Mystery of the Spirit Gems
by KicsterAsh
Summary: Five years pass since Danny left. Sam, now a single mother, and Tucker, mayor of Amity Park, still long to be reunited with their best friend. When Andy, Sam's son, discovers a jewel, a race between human and ghost begins, in order to reach the prize
1. Prologue

_AUTHIR'S NOTE: Here's the sequel to _Return of the Hero_ for those of you who never read it on my dA page. It takes place five years after Danny needed to leave, and it introduces a few new characters that you will see in the following adventures._

_For the first half of the story, Sam and Tucker, as well as the newest member to the Phantom Crew, Andy Fenton, are the protagonists. Feel lucky that I'm publishing this story in chunks on ; those who read it on deviantart nearly dropped dead with every cliff hanger I left. Haha!_

_Anywho, without further ado, here is **Danny Phantom: Mystery of the Spirit Gems!**_

* * *

Morning was just dawning over the city of Houston, USA, but the people working at NASA's Johnson Space Center had been up hours before the sun. Astronauts, doctors of science and military soldiers walked the grounds, getting ready for the return of another shuttle, even though the shuttle was returning in Florida, thousands of miles away.

It was no different in the laboratory of British-American space researcher, Dr. Michael Johnson. He loved the feeling of getting up early in the morning and working on samples brought back from the moon and other areas in space by the space rovers and astronauts. Everything from the unknown fascinated him. Deciphering riddles and puzzles were some of his favourite hobbies.

And thanks to a certain Space Cadet-turned astronaut who had entered the space program several years earlier, Johnson was also fascinated by the theory of ghosts existing.

Michael Johnson was one of the Space Center's most respected scientists; even the students who enrolled every two years looked at him as a model and asked him plenty of questions. People always came to his sermons and lectures, knowing that they would learn something new. They had even given him the name of _Space Father_, no thanks to the fact that he shared the same last name as the man the Space Center was named after.

Johnson was studying another microbug under his electronic microscope when the door to his laboratory opened. In stepped Lieutenant Jones, the center's director and veteran marine and astronaut.

Johnson looked up from his work and removed his goggles. "Oh, Lieutenant Jones, what a pleasant surprise, Sir," he greeted with his welcoming grin and British accent. "You're here mighty early, today."

"Have to, considerin' the shuttle's comin' down this mornin'," the Texas man replied, walking over. "If it wasn't, I'd still be in bed, but you know them workers nowadays; like to slack off in the mornin' if they ain't had their coffee."

The scientist laughed softly as his superior and old friend walked up to his desk. The built, wide shouldered director looked over the man's work. "Still workin' on that thesis of yours, Professor?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Johnson sat at his desk. "As a matter of fact, I am, Lieutenant," he replied, gathering his papers. "And I'm almost near completion."

"Good! Your work is half of the fun here at NASA."

"You're flattering, Sir."

"I try not to. Say, how's that portal of yers workin'?"

Johnson raised his head and looked at the giant steel ring that was bolted to the wall nearby. "Oh, _that_ old thing?" he said. With a sigh, he turned his head away while playing with his thick, gray moustache. "Haven't tried it out for several years."

"But it still works, right?" Jones said, catching the man's attention. The director looked at the professor's desk. "You designed it with the help of one of our former students, no?"

"Yes, yes, but I haven't had the heart to use it since he-!"

"Hey!" Jones leaned over and grabbed a picture frame sitting on Johnson's desktop and held it up. He grinned and pointed at the photo. "This is the kid, right? The one with the Ghost Hunters as parents?"

Johnson took the photo frame and smiled. It contained the ID photo of his most apt student, the one who had helped him perfect his portal. The young man had jet black hair that flipped forward and bright blue eyes. Although young, his eyes contained wisdom no one had ever known.

"He's that kid from Amity Park, right?" Jones added. "That uh, Fenton kid…"

Johnson laughed softly before nodding. "Danny Fenton," he said softly.

"Yeah, I remember him now! The one who suggested startin' the Special Missions!" the Lieutenant added with a grin. "In all my years of workin' here at NASA, I ain't _never_ seen such a determined man. Daniel sure as heck wanted in on the whole Space Program thing, didn't he?"

"He certainly did. Studied longer than anyone else I knew."

"It's a miracle we even chose him. He didn't do too good in high school, did he?"

"Nope; a D average student."

Jones chuckled softly before grabbing another photo frame. "I spoke to one of his Scouts leaders back when I was checkin' his references," he said. "The man said that Fenton had more spunk than most. He was incredibly shy and clumsy, but boy did he work well when he wanted to get the job done! If we didn't choose him for his grades, we chose him for his spirit. He had _way_ too much of it, and all those theories about improving on the shuttles? And how to gather more information? He was a genius, Johnson; a real genius. And real geniuses _don't_ do good in high school!"

"Is that why he wasn't needed to have three years experience?" Johnson said with a chuckle taking the other photo frame. This one contained a picture of both him and Danny when they were working on the portal.

"I think so. Apparently, according to his sister, Jasmine, Daniel was already familiar with how the controls in a shuttle worked. When we tested him out in a simulation ride, he took the entire staff by storm on how well he could handle a situation. Amazing, Johnson; it was as though he had known how to do this stuff for years. I wonder how he learned how to fly so well?"

Johnson smiled secretly and put the frame down. "He had his reasons," he said under his breath.

Both men were silent before Jones spoke up again. He looked at the professor with gentle, dark brown eyes. "Did you… ever find out what happened to him?" he asked softly.

Johnson sighed and looked at the photo of Danny. "No," he said heavily. "According to his parents, he's still missing. They've been searching for him everywhere. They have proof he's still alive, but they don't know where he could be."

"Cheese Nibblets; how long's it been since that summer already?"

"About five years, Sir."

Jones passed a hand over his face and shook his head. "Dang," he whispered. "That's such a shame, really. Daniel had such potential. He was such a good student. Despite his shyness and his solitude, he knew how to work in a group, and even lead it. He was such a smart kid. Would have made a great Captain for those Special Missions he wanted to start." He stood up straight. "You did tell his folks that, if he ever did show up again, he still had a position here, right?"

"I did, Sir."

"Good. Because it's not every day that we get good Astronauts like him. He'll make a great team leader."

Johnson smiled weakly and stared at the portal across the room.

Jones remained silent until finally sighing loudly and turning around. "Well, I'd best be off to the deck, then," he said. "Before they bring in the shuttle without me." He stomped a foot and saluted the doctor professionally. "Dr. Johnson," he said.

Johnson pushed up his glasses and nodded politely. "Lieutenant," he answered. Saluting the way the military did had never been something he was comfortable in doing.

Jones bowed respectfully and walked out of the lab.

Johnson watched him leave before looking at the photo frame of his favourite student. "I know you're not missing, Danny," he whispered. "But where on Earth would you be?"

He waited a moment before putting his things aside and opening a drawer. Inside sat a small box. He pulled out the box and set it down on the desk. He unlocked it with the aid of the key around his neck and carefully opened it.

Inside sat a red crystal that was shaped like a square. It glistened in the light as a halo of light pulsed around it.

Johnson smiled and held it up. "Do you remember when you found this for me?" he said softly. "I had asked you to bring back some samples, and you brought me this back. Isn't it beautiful?"

All of a sudden, the gem began to vibrate and broke free from the man's grasp. Johnson gasped softly and pushed his chair back as the gem fell onto the floor. Then, it slid beneath his desk and flew up to the portal against the wall.

Johnson stood up and stared at it. The gem seemed to want to enter the portal.

"What in the world?" he said in awe, walking around his desk and strolling up to the portal rim. He picked up the gem, studied it for a moment before suddenly noticing that, on the side of his portal, there were three engravings. The first was smooth and oval shaped; the second resembled the jewel in Johnson's hand; and the third was triangular.

The scientist stared curiously at his gem and then placed it into the slot that it seemed to fit in. It fell into it with a soft _click! _

The portal suddenly hummed and jerked. Johnson gasped and jumped out of the way as the doors over it slid open. There was a bright flash, and then the green swirl of light appeared, forming the portal door that led to the dimension on the other side.

The Ghost Zone.

"Why would that gem activate the portal?" Johnson wondered aloud, rubbing his chin.

The computer beside the door suddenly began to beep, catching his attention. "_Location received. Location received _," the computer announced unemotionally.

"Location?" Johnson echoed as numbers appeared on the screen. "Location of what?"

The data finished typing out and began to blink and beep. Once it had finished, a digital image of a figure was constructed beside it.

Johnson watched silently as it was generated and gasped in shock when the diagram had finished. It was the image of a ghost, with snow white hair and green eyes, dressed in a black suit with white gloves and boots. After a moment, a white line passed over the diagram and replaced it with the image of a young man with jet black hair and blue eyes, wearing the everyday clothes of an American.

Johnson covered his mouth before speaking again. "_Daniel?"_ he whispered.


	2. Chapter 1

Thousands of miles away from Texas, near the northern half of the country, amidst the hills and forests, sat the city known today as Amity Park. Most outsiders considered it a beautiful, peaceful place, but unbeknownst to them, Amity Park was in fact the most haunted town in all of the United States of America. More doorways to the Ghost Zone had been opened in that city than any other in the country, and there had been more sightings of ghosts than any other type of crime.

But it continued to thrive and grow. Five years earlier, it had been but a town—now, its population had made it a city. Despite the stories of its haunted buildings and ghost-infested homes, Amity Park had a charm that no other town in America had.

Casper Elementary was the general school of the city, with Casper High a few blocks down. The school walls housed over a thousand students. It was known for its high education ranking, although most of the students who attend it could say differently about some of their teachers.

Favourites were picked in every class, groups and popularity rankings had been created, and these were all begun and chosen by the students themselves, in every single grade. Even the kindergarteners had rankings.

Or, what Andy called, bullies and bullied.

Another day in September had come to a close, yet physical education did not end for five-year-old Andy until his mother had come to pick him up. While all the other children dashed out to meet their parents or catch the bus, he was busy trying to find a hiding place in the schoolyard.

Which, in his special way, always took plenty of time, but was never hard to do.

The black-haired, blue-eyed child tumbled over the ground as two students a few grades higher than he pushed him and tossed his lunchbox aside. Andy groaned painfully and quickly turned over, but did not dare to get up.

The blond-haired boy leaned down towards him. "Come on, Fenton," he teased. "I told you, you had to run faster. Didn't you do some exercisin' this weekend? How am I supposed to have fun poundin' you if you don't actually _run?" _

Andy did not reply. He only leaned away while staring at him in fright.

The older boy grinned. "Well, then, I guess I'll just have to pound you here," he said, raising his fist.

Andy gasped softly and braced himself.

The bully was just about to swing his fist when a woman's voice shouted out across the schoolyard. "Billy!" the teacher called out. "Billy, may I have a word with you?"

"Snap!" the blond-haired boy whispered as he and his friend turned around and hid Andy from view. He smiled politely up at the teacher. "Hi, Missus Miles," he greeted.

"Billy, I told you to remember to take this letter home to your parents," his teacher said sternly, waving a paper in her hand. "Was the warning I gave last week not enough? If you don't hand this in, you'll need to stay for detention."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, it won't happen again, I promise," the boy replied as he took that paper.

The teacher raised an eyebrow before turning and leaving. "Make sure it doesn't," she said.

The two boys waited for her to leave before sighing of relief. Billy smiled deviously and rubbed his fist. "Now, where were we?" he wondered.

He swooped around to swing a fist at the five-year-old, but to his surprise, he was no longer there.

The boy gasped in shock. "What?" he exclaimed angrily. "Again? How does that kid get away like that?" He looked up at the busses groaned. He turned and ran off. "Come on," he said to his friend. "We'll get him next time."

While they dashed off towards the busses, if anyone had dared to stay and look, they would have seen a little five-year-old with black hair and blue eyes appear out of thin air, just around the corner of the building.

Andy watched the boys run off before leaning against the building and heaving a sigh of relief. Mentally, he thanked himself for having been born with the ability to become invisible when wished. This trick had spared his life more than once since he began school.

A car honked twice from the street, catching his attention. Andy raised his head and recognized the black sports car and the woman inside.

He smiled and immediately dashed for the vehicle.

* * *

Sam waited patiently in the car for her son to come in. While she did, she tied her long black hair back into a ponytail before applying more purple lipstick to her lips. The music on the radio played loudly until the passenger door opened. Then, she turned the volume down and smiled at the five-year-old. "Hey, Kiddo!" she greeted him.

"Hi, Mommy!" Andy said cheerfully, climbing into the front seat and closing the door behind him.

"How was school?"

"Really fun; our teacher read us a book about puppies and then let us do some drawing before goin' to gym." Andy buckled in his seatbelt as his mother put the car into gear and drove off down the street. "How was your job?"

Sam sighed loudly. "Oh, we had another discussion about how to balance out meat and vegetables on the school menus again," she said tiredly. "For environmentalist work, it sure is boring sometimes."

"Why do you hate meat, Mommy?" Andy wondered. "Everyone else likes it."

"It's not that I _hate_ it, Andy; I just don't like to eat something that used to walk around. I'm—!"

"—an Ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, I know," Andy replied in chorus with his mother as he dug into his school bag. "I remember."

Sam smiled weakly at him before looking down the street again.

"So, where are we goin'?"

"Well, I needed to run a few errands for a minute at Town Hall, so we can go drop whatever needs to be dropped off there and then go home," Sam answered.

Andy's blue eyes lit up. "Can we go visit Uncle Tucker?" he asked excitedly. "Please, Mommy?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Andy, your uncle was in a meeting all afternoon today," she said. "He'll be pretty exhausted."

"But I wanna see him!"

"We see him every _time_ we go to Town Hall, Andy."

_"Pllleeeeaaaaasssse_?" Andy begged. He pulled out a picture from his backpack and showed it to his mother. "I drew a pitchure for him, see? An' I wanna give it to him today!"

Sam looked at the colouring and slowly, her smiled faded away. It was a drawing of two people, one brown and one peach, with t-shirts and shorts on. The brown stickman had a red hat on its head, while the peach one had black hair, shaped exactly like Andy's. Both men had bright smiles on their faces as they passed a soccer ball between each other.

But what caught her attention the most was that there was an arrow leading from the man with black hair to another man, flying in the air. This one had a black suit on, with white gloves and boots, and white hair on his head.

Sam recognized each figure far too well. She slowly looked away. "You didn't show that to anyone, did you?" she asked softly.

Andy took the picture back. "No," he replied. "Except the teacher, but she only thought that I drew a pitchure of Daddy and Uncle Tucker wif Danny Phantom."

Sam sighed of relief before looking at her son again. She had given birth to Andy only eight months after her best friend's said "disappearance." She, her other best friend Tucker, and the Fentons had made everyone believe that the boy's father had mysteriously gone missing. They even had police officers go out and look for him, but no one ever found him.

Even though Andy had never met his father, he knew who he was, how he looked, and what his secret was: he was the city's Ghost hero, _Danny Phantom. _

"Good; because you can't let anyone know," Sam said sternly.

Andy sighed tiredly and looked away. "I know, I know," he replied. "I remember you tellin' me that only a hundred times before."

"It's a serious secret, Andrew," Sam clarified. "Your father doesn't want anyone finding out about it."

"But what's wrong if the world knows about who he really is?" Andy wondered.

Sam laughed softly. "Your dad was the _shiest_ guy on the planet," she replied. "And if he stayed in the spotlight too long, it tended to get to his head."

Andy giggled softly before looking out the window. They passed by some children in the park who were flying a remote controlled airplane with their father. They giggled and laughed as they chased the plane about.

The five-year-old watched them as the car passed by and then looked at him mother again. "Mommy, when do you think Daddy's gonna come home?" he asked quietly.

Sam looked at him in silence for a moment before looking away again with dark eyes. "I don't know, Andy," she said softly. "I really don't know."


	3. Chapter 2

Town Hall was filled with people who came to visit the new expo on ghosts and spirits. It would be moved to the museum for the next few weeks, but because it had been the mayor of the town who created it, its first stop was Amity Park Town Hall.

Tucker Foley had been Mayor of Amity Park since he completed his studies at Computer College three years earlier. Ever since then, his technological creations not only were famous, but his researches on the Ghost Zone continued to intrigue everyone, especially the press.

He had been in a meeting for several hours, discussing the Ghost expo and what new defences he had set up with Jack and Madeline Fenton, the city's top Ghost Hunters. Now, he had finally been able to break free from the questions and was allowed to exit the conference room.

The black man with the red beret heaved a sigh of relief as he walked into the expo room, where several people were still admiring all the ghost images, data and weaponry that he had collected over the years. "_Finally_, out of there," he said. "I don't know what's worse; a visit from the Box Ghost, or being stuck in a conference room filled with people who won't stop asking you questions." He looked about. "What _I_ need is a little relaxation—!"

"Uncle Tucker!"

Tucker looked up at the mention of his name and smiled brightly. Andy pushed by a few people, followed closely by his mother, and ran into Tucker's arms. "I found you!" he exclaimed.

Tucker raised him up high and laughed. "Hey, Mini-man!" he greeted cheerfully. "How's my favourite nephew today?"

"I feel great!" Andy replied, spreading out his arms. "Mommy had to drop somethin' off for you, so I came to say hi!"

"Good thing you did, too," Tucker replied, looking at Sam. "I _needed_ the break."

Sam smiled back while smoothing out her black leather jacket. "Yeah, well it's your fault you became mayor of this place, Tucker, _not_ mine," she replied.

"How kind of you," Tucker said sarcastically. "At least I've finally gotten a good job where people like me." He put Andy down and rubbed the boy's head. "And as a bonus, I get visits from my favourite Ghost expert!"

Andy giggled and then held up his folded piece of paper. "Here, Uncle Tucker," he said as Tucker squatted and took the paper. "I made this for you at school."

Tucker unfolded it and studied the drawing. His eyebrows rose up high, but just as Sam had expected, hardly any joy came to his eyes; what she saw was grief and loneliness.

It made her a little concerned for her best friend.

Tucker remained silent a little more before opening his mouth, where it hung gaping for a second or two.

"Mommy said that you were feeling sad lately," Andy said, catching the mayor's attention. "So I drew you a pitchure of you and my daddy. Mommy says that he _always_ made you happy."

Tucker looked up at Sam for a moment before forcing up a grin. "Err, y-yeah, that's right," he said. "He always did know how to make things brighter." He looked at the boy with gratitude in his eyes as he tucked the picture away into his pocket. "Thank you, Andy."

Andy beamed proudly.

Sam placed a hand on her son's shoulder. "Andy, why don't you go wait in the car for me?" she asked. "I won't be long, I promise."

"Okay," Andy replied with a shrug. He waved at his uncle as he left. "Bye, Uncle Tucker!"

Tucker waved slowly in reply until the boy disappeared in the crowd of people. Then, he pulled out the picture again and stared at it. Sadness covered his face.

"I'm guessing you haven't figured anything out yet?" Sam said gently.

Tucker sighed and stood up. "No," he replied heavily. "I'm still as stumped as I was five years ago." He looked down at the picture again.

Sam looked about for a minute and then placed her hands on Tucker's shoulders. "Let's go talk about this in your office," she said, walking him off.

* * *

The office was incredibly quiet compared to the busy expo hall. Once Sam had closed the door behind her and Tucker, she could just feel the difference.

"I've scanned the zone I don't know _how_ many times already," Tucker said tiredly, sitting at his desk and typing something in on his computer. When Sam came to join him, a screen popped up. Tucker typed in another command. "I lost count the first fifty times. Ever since he had to lose his physical body, I've tried scanning the zone for it…" He clicked enter on the keyboard.

A box popped up and a green line split through it. Then, the message _No Real World items were found_ appeared in red.

Tucker sighed heavily and looked at his best friend. "… But _this_ stupid message pops up," he finished. He pushed up his glasses and glared at the computer screen before slapping it. "It makes no _sense!_" he said. "How can _nothing_ pop up on the scanner? He said himself that his body was in the Ghost Zone!"

"He said that it was _lost_ in the Ghost Zone, Tucker," Sam corrected him. "And if he hasn't found it in five years, then I'm guessing that it's still _lost._"

Tucker sighed shakily and pulled off his hat. He stared at the screen with sad eyes. "It's just not _fair_," he whispered sadly. "Why does it have to be so hard to find? It's a human _body_, for Pete's sake; wouldn't _Skulker_ at least find it?" He pulled out the drawing Andy had made for him and set it down on his desk, next to a picture frame of him and the boy's father when they were children. "For the past five years, I've turned up with nothing, Sam; and the closest I can get to my best friend is a few photographs, a drawing and a five-year-old kid that looks exactly like his dad."

Sam placed a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it. "You're not the only one who misses him, Tucker," she said softly. "Danny held an important place in everyone's lives. His parents, his sister, us…" She grabbed another picture frame which contained a picture she, Tucker and Danny had taken together the summer before the attack that caged Danny in the Ghost Zone. They had their arms around each other, with wide grins on their faces.

Sam sighed. "And I'm here, a successful environmentalist, raising a kid on my own," she said quietly. "A kid that knows his dad is half ghost, yet who's never even _met_ him in his life."

"You never told Danny that you got pregnant, did you?" Tucker guessed softly, looking up at her.

Sam looked at him before putting the picture frame down. "No," she replied. "I honestly didn't think I was _gonna_ get pregnant. But then I fell head over heels in love with my best friend, thanks to a push that my _other_ best friend gave me—!"

Tucker grinned weakly at that. "Hm; my bad," he muttered, although he did not mean it.

Sam smiled at him and continued. "And then we decided to take it a step farther," she added. She looked down at her black boots. "But only a month after that, a Ghost attacks the town, Danny has three days to master an uncontrollable gift, and once he defeats the ghost, he's forced to live in the Ghost Zone, searching for his human body which was removed because of how much energy he used." She sighed sadly. "His fate hurt everyone, Tucker," she concluded. "Not only us. But ever since that day, we haven't had very many ghost problems; and even when we did, they weren't serious. Just be grateful that we were able to keep the city from learning of Danny's secret. If they had been able to tie Danny's disappearance with Danny _Phantom's_ absence, we'd be in hot water right now."

Tucker sighed and stared at his computer. "You do have a point," he said. "And all Danny ever wanted was to keep this town safe." After a moment of silence, he stood up and turned off the computer screen. "Anyway, I think I'm gonna go home and hit the hay," he said. "That press conference totally wiped me out. I'll get the guard to close shop in an hour."

"Where did you get all of that ghost stuff anyway?"

"Danny's parents, his sister, my closet… The Ghost Zone. Some of the ghosts let me borrow a few items, though those I've kept under lock and key. They'll only be exposed for a few days before I toss them back into the Ghost Zone."

Sam frowned softly. "It wasn't anything serious, was it?" she asked.

Tucker shook his head. "Just a few do-hickies," he replied. "Like a plant, a rock, a jewel that's totally worthless and some ghost ooze. I found the jewel outside the Nasty Burger, actually. You know, where we used to hang out with Danny?"

"Of course I remember that. Those burgers were gross. How do you know if that jewel is from the GZ?"

"I put it under the ecto scanner and it was just _filled_ with the stuff."

"You're not showing the map we made, are you?"

"Are you crazy?" Tucker frowned in reply. "Do you think I'd put the Ghost Zone in jeopardy like that? Come on, Sam; I'm not an idiot, not to mention Dan's body is still _in_ there somewhere."

Sam smiled amusingly and rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, sorry I asked," she said with a chuckle. She watched as Tucker packed his things into his shoulder bag before speaking again. "How's that Ghost Portal you've been working on coming along?"

"Okay, I guess. But it's not easy. I'm trying to make it portable, actually. In case we would need to take one around with us."

"You have _way_ too much free time on your hands, Mr. Mayor."

Tucker smiled in reply and gave her the thumbs up. "At least I haven't changed," he replied, making Sam laugh.


	4. Chapter 3

Shortly after giving the head security officer the order to close the doors at four, Tucker found himself exiting Town Hall with his best friend. Plenty of people still walked in and out of the building, on their way to see the ghost expo.

"Everything in that room will be moved to the museum tomorrow," Tucker announced as he and Sam walked over to Sam's sports car. "I'm gonna look it over to make sure everything's safe. Danny's mom will come and lend me a hand too, until you finish your job and head over. Most of it is just documentation about different samples and legends. There's a list of all the ghosts that have haunted Amity Park too."

"Including Danny Phantom?" Sam said with a grin.

Tucker smiled back. "Why would I forget the guy who protected us all these years?" he asked. "I think his stuff is actually more popular than anything else. Most of the questions at the conference were in reference to him and how I came across so much information about him. Luckily for me, Danny and I were great liars."

Sam laughed softly as they came to a stop next to the car. "Yeah, _too_ well, sometimes," she replied.

Tucker shrugged in reply before looking down through the passenger window of the car.

Andy was sitting in there, drawing another picture of Danny Phantom. He waited patiently for his mother to finish business with his uncle.

"He looks so _much_ like Danny," Tucker whispered. "The hair, the eyes, the face… it's amazing how much they resemble each other."

"Except for the fact that Danny's half ghost and Andy isn't," Sam replied. She sighed. "Thank goodness he isn't; I don't know what I'd do with a kid who's half ghost and a husband who is too."

"Does that mean you plan on marrying him when he comes back, Sam?" Tucker asked with a sly grin.

Sam looked at him and blushed. "So I just blurted something stupid out, but maybe I do," she replied. "Besides; I've already given Andy his father's last name. He likes it better than Manson, anyway."

Tucker stuck his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, so do I," he muttered.

Sam narrowed her eyes and punched him in the shoulder, making Tucker yelp and rub his arm. "Come on, Sam, you know I was kidding!" he said with a painful laugh.

Sam smiled slyly back before walking around the car and opening the driver's door.

"Considering you didn't actually _drop_ anything off for me, I figured you just came to talk," Tucker added.

Sam winked back. "Just checking up on my best friend." Before stepping into the car, she looked up at Tucker. "Just keep trying, Tuck," she said. "We'll eventually find it. And when we do, he'll come home. And everything will be back to the way it was."

"Save the squirt in the front seat," Tucker teased, pointing at Andy. When he looked at the boy, the five-year-old stared back at him. With a grin, Tucker waved.

Andy smiled back and waved in reply.

Sam got down into the car and closed the door before starting it. The passenger's window rolled down and she leaned over her son to look at Tucker again. "I'll see you tomorrow for lunch, then?" she guessed.

Tucker smiled and saluted her in reply. "Just as scheduled," he replied.

Sam smiled back and pulled herself away. Andy waved cheerfully. "Bye, Uncle Tucker!" he said as his mother pulled away from the side of the road and drove off.

Tucker waved back and watched as the black car disappeared down the road. He sighed and stared up at the sky before looking at his watch. "Time for supper and then a bit of video games," he said, turning and walking to the parking lot where his motorized scooter was waiting.


	5. Chapter 4

Andy sat on his bed that evening after changing into his pyjamas, much like he always did, and took out the little action figures his uncle had given him for his birthday. They had been manufactured years before his birth, but what he liked about them most was that they were figurines of Danny Phantom and his foes.

Andy himself found it funny how he loved his father and admired him, even though he had never seen his face, never mind ever heard his voice. Since he could remember, his mother, aunt, uncle and grandparents had told him stories about how Danny Phantom had saved Amity Park over and over again, and his mother had shared with him the story of the very day that Danny received his ghost powers.

But the story he loved most was how Danny had saved Amity Park from the Ghost Keeper, the dreaded spirit eater. That day, Danny had gained the most powerful of all ghost powers: the power of Ultimate Control. He could control anything he wanted by a single thought, and blast rays of pure light that would destroy anything in its path. None stood a chance against him.

But the power drained a large amount of energy, and the only reason Danny was able to survive was because he was only half ghost. Because of this, once one form lost energy, it could take it from the other one. Unfortunately, this drained all the strength from his human half, which disappeared into the ghost zone and was lost. Danny was forced to leave the Real World and his family to search for his body. Without it, he would never be able to return home.

Five years had passed since that day. Eight months after Danny's leave, Andy was born. Andrew Fenton became an immediate member of the ghost busting family. And although his mother never enjoyed that he got caught up _too_ much in his grandparents' fancies and inventions, Andy was an immediate ghost lover. He never went one day without thinking of a ghost.

Or, more precise, thinking of his father.

"Danny Phantom soars over Amity Park, escaping every shoot that Vlad Plasmius sends his way!" Andy cried out dramatically, swinging his tiny figurine of the white-haired ghost in the air. He raised his other hand and brought up the figuring of Vlad, Danny Phantom's old arch nemesis. "There's fireworks in the sky! So many bright lights! 'You'll never get away, Danny Phantom!' Vlad yells all mad." Andy pointed his Danny figuring at Vlad. "'Sure I will!' Danny Phantom says back. 'Everyone knows that adults are a lot slower than kids!'"

Andy made explosion noises with his mouth as the two figurines clashed and smashed into each other. "Oh, it's crazy!" Andy exclaims. "Who will win the battle? Danny Phantom or Vlad Plasmius?"

He turns over onto his back and throws Vlad Plasmius through the air. "Raaahhh! It's Danny Phantom!" he cries out. "He used his ghostly ice to freeze Vlad Plasmius, and then he sucked him into the Fenton Thermos! Danny Phantom wins again!"

He rolled over and reached for another figurine, this one resembling a fourteen-year-old version of his mother. Andy grinned at it and placed his Danny Phantom figurine down before reaching out and grabbing the Danny Fenton figurine. "Danny's friends are waiting for him when he changes back," the five-year-old continues. "But he's too shy to tell them who he really is, so he turns back to normal behind a tree, where no one sees him.

"But one of his best friends, Samantha Manson, is waiting for him there. 'Oh, Danny, you're my hero!' she says happily. 'I love you!'" Andy placed the two figurines together and made a kissing sound.

"And then, they got married and had a baby, and they all lived happily ever AFTER!" Andy exclaimed happily, turning onto his back again and throwing his toys through the air.

But he suddenly realized what he had done, and gasped in shock. Quickly, he turned onto his stomach and watched his favourite figurine, Danny Fenton, fly into the wall, fall to the ground, roll over itself and then tumble down the heater shaft in the floor, which was half open thanks to a missing bar. The toy tumble through the hole and disappeared.

Andy gasped again, this time in horror, and crawled off of his bed as quickly as he could. "Daddy!" he exclaimed, running up to the shaft. He fell to his knees while whimpering worriedly and tried sticking his hand through the crack. But it did not fit; only his fingers could make it through.

Andy felt tears fill his eyes. "No, no," he begged. "Daddy, don't go down to the furnace!" He tried reaching in further until he suddenly remembered something.

Andy raised his eyes cautiously and looked at the door to his room. It was closed, meaning that no one could see him. So he turned back to the shaft, looked at his arm and shut his eyes tightly.

When they opened again, his entire left arm had become intangible.

Andy grinned and phased his hand through the crack and the floor until his shoulder was all the way down. He searched frantically for his toy, praying that it had somehow gotten snagged and evaded the slide to the furnace.

He felt something rub against his hand, and Andy smiled happily. Wrapping his fingers around the object, he quickly pulled his arm back up. Once through, he opened his hand.

Sitting in it was the tiny figurine of fourteen-year-old Danny Fenton.

Andy smiled and dusted the dirty toy off before caressing it gently against his cheek. "I love you, Daddy," he whispered. "I'm never gonna let anything bad happen to you, I promise."

"Andy?"

Andy gasped and opened his eyes. The doorknob to his room was turning.

He looked down at his arm and realized that it was still intangible. He quickly returned it to normal before the door opened.

In peeped Sam's head. She looked at her son and grinned. "I heard some noise up here," she said, walking into the room. "What have you been up to?"

"Nothin'," Andy replied innocently. "Only playin' wif my toys." His mother had no idea about his two gifts, and since he had heard her say plenty of times before that it would be safer if he did not have any, he thought it would be best if he never told her; he did not want to worry his mother.

Sam sat down on the side of the bed and patted it, beckoning her son over. "And who did Danny Phantom defeat this time?" she asked.

"The evil Vlad Plasmius!" Andy exclaimed, jumping onto the bed. "The evilest of half-ghosts and the bad guy extraordinaire!"

"Plasmius?" Sam said in shock, pretending to be horrified. She pulled back the covers. "Oh, no! How did Danny stop him?"

"Wif his ghostly ice!" Andy replied, crawling beneath the covers.

"Not his ghostly wail this time?"

"No, that was last time. It would have made it too easy for him this time. And it would have made him tired, too. Danny Phantom needs to give the bad guy a chance sometimes, you know."

Sam chuckled softly before tucking her son in. "You've got another day of school, tomorrow, so you'd better get to bed, now," she said. "Did you brush your teeth?"

"Yep, every one of 'em," Andy replied, baring his teeth. "See? All clean!"

"Good." Sam leaned forward to kiss him goodnight.

But just as her lips were about to meet his forehead, Andy spoke up. "Mommy?" he said.

Sam leaned back again. "Yes?"

"When Daddy comes back, does that mean we'll be a family?"

Sam grinned weakly. "Of course it will mean that," she said. "But it doesn't mean that we're not a family now, right?"

"Will you get married to Daddy?"

"If he wants to."

"But if he doesn't want to, is he still my Daddy?"

Sam sighed tiredly. "Andy, I'm not in the mood to answer these questions tonight, alright?" she said, tucking him in again and laying him down. "You need to get to sleep or else you'll be grumpy tomorrow."

"But when will Daddy come home?" Andy wondered.

"I already told you that I'm not sure."

"When he comes back, will he share a bed wif you? Like all the other mommies and daddies?"

"… I… suppose so."

"Will he like me?"

These words made Sam fall silent. She stared at her son, not knowing what to say.

Andy looked down at the little figurine in his hand and then looked at his mother again. "What if he doesn't like me?" he asked worriedly. "What if he only wanted to be wif you?"

Sam blinked several times before smiling warmly and stroking her son's head. "Your dad will love you no matter what, Andy," she said gently. "Once he sees you for the first time, he won't ever want to give you up."

Andy grinned timidly. "Promise?" he said.

"I promise," Sam replied. She leaned forward and finally kissed him on the head. "Now, it's time for bed. You need some sleep, Sweetie."

Andy smiled back and turned onto his side while holding the tiny action figure near him. "G'night, Mommy," he whispered as he closed his eyes.

"Good night, Andy."

Sam stood up and walked over to the door. She closed the light, leaving the only source of light left to be from the moon outside, which casted a silver glow over the boy's bed.

She closed the door a bit and looked at her son again. "Sweet dreams," she whispered.

Andy shifted his legs but did not reply. All he did was grin, and clutch the tiny Danny Fenton toy against his heart.

* * *

Sam closed the door all the way and turned around while sighing. She looked at her surroundings.

The house was not as large as her parents' home, but it was larger than the Fentons' residence. Because of her inheritance, she had been able to afford a good home for her and her son. It had no maids or butlers, but it had plenty of room for a five-year-old who loved ghost hunting to run around. The basement had been left untouched, save for the laundry room; Sam figured that, if Danny ever would return and come live with her, he would transform the basement into an area to store his astronaut equipment and ghost documents. He would probably even want to build his own Ghost Portal, instead of needing to walk all the way to the other end of the neighbourhood to use his father's.

But what concerned her had been the same worry that nibbled at her mind ever since she had given birth to her son five years earlier: would Danny _really_ come and live with her? Would he still be in love with her? And if he was, would he still want to be part of her life if he knew that she had a son? A son… that resembled him far too well?

Sam sighed again and walked across the hallway to the master bedroom. She passed the large bathroom, the study/office, and the spare bedroom, in which Tucker had lived until he became Mayor of Amity Park a few years earlier. Like he had promised Danny before he left, Tucker had remained by Sam's side, not only to continue being her best friend, but to also take care of her. Despite their arguments and disagreements, Sam had been incredibly grateful to have a friend like Tucker.

The master bedroom was large. Nearly four times larger than Andy's. Sam would have considered it too spacey, if she was not hoping that someday, Danny would share it with her.

She got undressed and changed into her black nightgown before undoing the ponytail in her hair. She washed off the black makeup she wore around her eyes and removed her purple lipstick. Since she had become a mother, Sam had dialled down on the Goth look, in order not to scare her son into thinking that he was being cared for by a vampire.

She sat down on her bed and grabbed a book before getting comfortable. She nestled down and read for a little, enjoying the solitude.

But soon, her mind drifted off to her teenage years. Every night, she did this before falling asleep. From the day Danny had fallen into the portal and received his ghost powers, to the day he disappeared from the Real World. She remembered how, when they were fifteen, Danny found the courage to tell the world of his secret identity. She remember how, before graduating, he had asked Tucker to create a device to wipe out the memories of every person, save his family, his two best friends, and, Sam never knew why, Dash and Paulina, two of the popular students in high school who bullied Danny before they discovered his secret. Everyone else on the entire planet, thanks to a temporary transmitter Tucker installed and had help with ghosts to transport, Danny's secret identity remained secret.

But now, it seemed incredibly useless to have done so. Two days following graduation, Danny escaped his home town to follow his dreams and left his ghost abilities behind him in order to live a normal life. He only returned four years later, to visit his family. Sam and Tucker took the opportunity to remind him of who he was. It took all summer. For three days, Danny accepted his destiny again, but to everyone's horror, it came to an abrupt stop when Danny was forced to sacrifice his own body to save his town. And now, five years later, he was still absent.

_What was the use of erasing everyone's memory of your secret if you were gonna disappear anyway? _Sam thought. _Even if people still remembered what you did, they would have forgotten all about you by now. People don't care about heroes anymore like they used to. Once they're gone, they're gone for good. _

She turned over onto her side to put down her book and came face-to-face with the photo of Danny she had placed by her bedside. It was a picture Sam had taken of him when he came to visit that summer five years ago. Jazz had bought him clothes that resembled the clothes he had worn so often in high school. He smiled brightly at the camera, something Danny hardly did, considering he was such a timid person.

Sam sighed sadly as she trailed a finger across Danny's face. _Except us_, she thought. _We haven't forgotten you, Danny. We're still waiting for you to come back. Please don't disappoint us..._ She turned over after turning out the lamp and tucked herself beneath the covers. _Please come back home, Danny... I miss you..._


	6. Chapter 5

Morning arrived bright and early, just in time for school. Andy got dressed in his usual attire—white t-shirt with red striped sleeves and collar, jean shorts and his black sneakers—gathered his things in his backpack, including his Danny Phantom action figure, and raced downstairs.

Sam was busy getting her things together for another day of work when her son came down the stairs. Like every morning, she had a bowl of cereal ready for him when he arrived.

Andy set his bag down on the floor. "G'morning, Mommy," he said cheerfully, running to the table. He stopped short and turned back to the china cabinet nearby. On it sat a photo of his father in his NASA uniform.

Andy reached up and grabbed the picture frame, just like he did every morning. He smiled at it. "G'morning, Daddy," he whispered before kissing the frame and putting it back where it belonged.

Sam looked over her shoulder and grinned weakly before returning to preparing her things and her son's lunch. "I'm gonna be a little busy after school, helping your Uncle with a few things," she said as Andy poured his milk and began eating breakfast. "So your Aunt Jazz is going to come and pick you up after school, okay?"

"Auntie Jazz is in Amity Park?" Andy echoed excitedly.

"Only for a few weeks. Then she needs to get back to work."

"Yay! So does that mean I'm goin' to see Gramma and Grampa Fenton after school?"

Sam rolled her eyes with a grin. "Yes," she replied.

Andy threw his arms in the air and cheered. "Woohoo!" he cried out.

"But you're not allowed to go into the basement this time."

At these words, Andy froze and lowered his arms. He stared at his mother in disbelief. "What?" he said. "Why?"

"Because last time you did, you almost fell through the Ghost Portal," Sam replied. "I gave your aunt specific instructions _not_ to let you go down there, even if your Grandpa wants to let you. Is that clear?"

"But—!"

"No _buts_, Mister. Is-that-clear?"

Andy frowned and wrinkled his nose before staring at his bowl again. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered stubbornly.

Sam smiled in return and packed up his lunch. "Good," she said. "At least it's easier to have you obey orders than it was your father."


	7. Chapter 6

The day proved to go by incredibly slowly for Andy. It was always a treat for him to go visit his grandparents. Ever since he could remember, he loved their ghost inventions, from the ones that worked to the ones that didn't. Either they would do something cool, or just make him laugh.

Andy knew his grandfather was intelligent and strong, but he also knew how proud he was, which sometimes blinded him to everything and everyone around him. He was always so convinced that his inventions would work; unfortunately, he always forgot a step, and the gadgets he claimed would work, almost never did.

But his grandmother's intelligence made up for his grandfather's fumbles. All of her inventions usually worked, though most of them she had stopped using when she discovered that her son was half-ghost.

And her gingersnaps were delicious.

Andy waited eagerly for the school day to finish. He wanted so desperately to go to his grandparents' house. Even gym seemed long, and that was his favourite class.

But eventually, the bell did ring, and when it did, he was the first to get up, gather his things, and dash out of the classroom, almost forgetting that he had to follow the teacher out first.

Arriving outside, Andy eagerly searched the street for any sign of his aunt. "Where are you, Auntie?" he wondered. "Did you get here yet?"

"Who you talkin' to, Fenton?"

Andy gasped but had no time to turn and run before he was violently pushed to the ground. When he looked up, Billy and his friend were standing over him.

_Not again_, Andy thought.

Billy smiled deviously and leaned down to pick something up. "He-hey, check it out," he said with a grin.

Andy watched him reach down and pick up his Danny Phantom figurine. He gasped in shock and tried to grab it, but the eight-year-old picked it up before he did.

Billy giggled and held up the little toy. "Lookie at this; Andy likes to play with _dolls_," he teased, making his friend laugh.

"He's not a doll, he's a mini action figure!" Andy argued, reaching for the ghost toy. "Give him back!"

Billy pushed him back to the ground and examined the toy. "Hey, it's Danny Phantom," he said, impressed. "I heard these toys sold out like hot cakes! These mini dudes are worth a fortune!"

"My uncle gave 'em to me! He's mine!"

Billy giggled and smiled slyly. "No way," he said. "Five-year-old babies like you will only chew on them and make them worthless." He held Danny Phantom up. "_I'm_ gonna take care of him now."

Andy was horror struck. "No!" he cried, reaching for the figurine. "He's mine! Give him back! He's _my_ Danny Phantom!"

"You don't even _know_ who he is, dweeb," Billy replied. "You weren't born when people saw him last. He doesn't like bein' seen in public anymore. He likes doin' work when no one's lookin'. So why should a little baby like you have a toy like him if you've never seen him _or_ never heard of him?"

Andy was nearly in tears. "Please give him back!" he begged.

Billy stuck out his tongue. "Make me, Shorty!" he teased.

Andy stared up at him, wondering what to do, when he got an idea. He gasped and pointed over their shoulder. "It's Principal Lancer!" he exclaimed in shock.

Billy and his friend gasped and turned around. "Where? Where is he?" he asked fearfully, afraid to be caught bullying again.

Andy grinned slyly and became intangible. He reached into Billy's hand, grabbed his Danny Phantom figurine and pulled it away without being felt. Then, he turned invisible and dashed off.

Billy scratched his head. "I guess we just missed him," he muttered, as he and the other boy turned around to look at Andy again. To his complete surprise, the boy had vanished, and so had the toy in Billy's hand.

Billy gasped and looked at his empty hand before clenching his teeth and groaning loudly. "How the heck does he get away like that?" he exclaimed angrily. "I can't ever pound him properly!" He looked at the busses again. "Let's go before we miss the bus. We'll get him tomorrow."

Andy peeked over the bush he had run to and watched them leave before slipping back in his hiding spot. He heaved a sigh of relief as he turned visible once more. Looking down at his figurine, he raised it to his cheek and held it tightly, swearing to never get that close to losing it again.

Once he figured the coast was clear, Andy walked out of his hiding place and looked about. "Good thing no one saw that," he said. "Or else I'd be in big trouble. Mommy doesn't want me to have ghost powers—!"

Something shining in the grass suddenly caught his attention. The five-year-old paused and looked in its direction.

It was a green jewel, oval shaped, with a smooth surface. The sunlight it captured reflected its beautiful green light.

Andy looked at it curiously and picked it up. "Wow," he said softly in awe. "It's a piece of jewellery. Maybe it's an emerald or somethin'. Maybe Uncle Tucker would know." He grinned and stuck it into his pocket. "I'll keep it and show it to him later."

"Hey, Andy!"

Andy turned around when he heard a woman call out for him. A smile reached his lips.

A woman dressed in a black skirt and an aqua top waved at him from the sidewalk. Her orange hair was held back by a headband, and her green-blue eyes sparkled energetically upon seeing her nephew.

"Auntie Jazz!" Andy exclaimed, turning and dashing over to her. He leaped into her arms as she swung him about happily.

* * *

Jazz did not own a vehicle when she came to visit Amity Park. Her car remained in the nearest city. She usually bussed over when she was visiting or traveled with some friends. It was only a mere hour by bus.

When she was in Amity Park, she had her motorized scooter, something she and her brother both had since they were children.

And that was exactly what they were riding on at that moment.

Andy sat in front of her as Jazz drove him down the street on the scooter. She always carried a second helmet for him, one that fit perfect and did not fall over his eyes. He would place his hands on the handlebars beside his aunt's hands and pretend to drive when she did.

"Are you still workin' on more doctor stuff, Auntie?" Andy asked.

"Sure thing," Jazz replied. "Being a psychiatrist is a well-paid job, and I get to talk to a lot of people."

"How about your ghost stuff?"

Jazz leaned over to his ear. "Sssh," she whispered. "That was our little secret, remember?"

Andy giggled. "Oh, yeah; I forgot," he replied.

Jazz straightened out and turned down another street. "I've been doing some more research on it," she said, "But so far, most of it is already known by your dad. I wanted to do my own research so that I can be just as smart about ghosts as he was." She looked at her nephew again. "So, how's school? Did you make any friends yet?"

Andy shrugged. "One or two, but they're too little to come and play yet," he said.

"That's okay. Your dad wasn't allowed to go visit his friends when he was that young, either."

"But I still have bully problems."

At these words, Jazz fell silent.

"His name's Billy. Billy Baxter, I think. He's eight years old."

Jazz blinked and then frowned. "Yeah, I know who he is," she muttered unemotionally. "And who his parents are." She looked at Andy again. "Does he bug you a lot?"

"Yeah, but that's okay. I normally always get away before he hurts me too bad." He pulled out his Danny Phantom mini action figure and held it up. "He tried takin' this today, but I was able to trick him and take it back. He said that they don't make these anymore. Is that true, Auntie Jazz?"

Jazz looked at the toy and grinned. "Yep," she said. "Ever since your dad went to start studying to be an astronaut after high school, they stopped making them. And because no one remembers who his real identity is, it makes it even harder to find the toys in a whole set. You're lucky your Uncle Tucker had some left."

"Uncle Tucker's been really sad lately," Andy said. "Mommy said so."

Jazz did not need an explanation on that; she already knew why Tucker was so depressed. After five years of trying to find Danny's location with no success, Jazz understood how difficult it was for Tucker to bear his best friend's absence.

"So I drew him a pitchure of him an' my Daddy. He said it made him feel better."

Jazz grinned at this. "Good," she said. "You're good at cheering people up."

They traveled on a little further before finally coming to a stop in the driveway of a house around a corner. This brick house belonged to the Fentons and _Fenton Works_, the family's ghost hunting business. At the top of the building was an extra laboratory called the Op-center.

Andy loved visiting his grandparents. He quickly undid his helmet and jumped off of his aunt's scooter before dashing around to the front of the house and running up the steps. "Are Gramma and Grampa home, Auntie?" he asked,

Jazz put her things down and followed him. "Yep," she replied.

Andy stopped at the door and looked about. When he saw that his aunt had not yet turned the corner, he grinned, turned intangible, and walked through the front door.

Once inside, Andy turned back to normal and looked about. "Hi, Gramma!" he cried out loudly. "Hi, Grampa!"

There was the sound of something falling in the kitchen, followed by the footsteps of someone who was light on her feet. Andy turned to the back of the living room and grinned when he saw his grandmother emerge.

Maddie was, as usual, dressed in her blue jumpsuit. She pulled her hood off and smiled at her grandson. "Andy!" she said. "I didn't hear you come in! You're getting sneakier and sneakier!"

"I gots lotsa practice on my mom!" Andy replied proudly.

Maddie giggled and knelt down, opening her arms. Andy ran over and jumped into them, hugging his grandmother tightly.

"How's my favourite grandson doing, huh?" she asked, showering him with kisses.

The front door opened and in walked Jazz. The woman looked about with startled eyes and then stared at Andy. "Boy, you sure know how to get in without making a sound, Squirt," she said. "I didn't even hear the door open!"

Andy smiled back.

"You're almost as quiet as Danny used to be when he came home from school," Maddie noted.

Jazz rubbed her chin thoughtfully at these words. "Yeah, he is," she agreed.

Andy shrugged in reply before pulling himself away from his mother. "Where's Grampa Jack?" he asked.

"He's downstairs, Dear," Maddie replied, pointing over her shoulder.

Andy smiled happily and made to dash off, but Jazz ran over and grabbed the boy's backpack, holding him in place. "Ah-ah, little sneaker," she warned. "Your mom said no basement this time, remember?"

"Aaawwww!" Andy moaned. "But I wanna go see Grampa!"

"Mom, go tell Dad to come upstairs so that Andy can see him," Jazz instructed.

Maddie placed her hands on her hips. "Why can't Andy just go down and see him?" she wondered.

"Because Sam doesn't want him down there today, that's why."

"What's wrong with him going downstairs?"

Jazz frowned and crossed her arms. "Mom!" she exclaimed. "Sam just doesn't want him to go downstairs today! She's worried that too much of this ghost stuff will fill his head with ideas that could get him hurt!"

"Andy's a Fenton, Jasmine," Maddie replied with a grin. "He won't get hurt in the lab—!"

Jazz raised an eyebrow. "Um, his dad did," she noted.

"Jazz, come on; Danny wasn't hurt."

"Oh, I'm sure he wasn't; he only walked into the portal, turned it on and got thousands of ghostly _volts_ shot through his fourteen-year-old body!"

Maddie shrugged. "It gave him ghost powers," she replied.

Jazz sighed tiredly and passed a hand over her face. "Okay, whatever," she said. "But Sam asked that Andy doesn't go downstairs, and she's his mother." She looked at Andy for a moment, smiled pitifully at him and rolled her eyes amusingly. "But I guess… she didn't say anything about you guys bringing up a few things to show him."

Andy's eyes brightened at these words and he clapped his hands excitedly.

Maddie smiled back and nodded. "Jack, Dear!" she called out.

There was a thump from the basement. "What is it, Maddie?" he cried back.

"Andrew's here to visit us for a few hours!"

"Oh, goodie! My little Ghost Hunting Partner!" There was another sound of something breaking before the hurried and heavy footsteps of Jack Fenton running up the stairs. The large man with greying hair, wearing a jumpsuit, leaped into view and spread out his arms. "Andy-Boy!"

"Grampa!" Andy exclaimed, running over to him and jumping into his arms.

Jazz listened to them as they began to chatter about all things ghost and leaned over to her mother. "Too bad Danny was never that open with Dad about ghosts," she whispered.

"Danny was a lot shier than Andy," Maddie replied. "Not to mention scared _silly_ of ghosts." Her smile faded away as she looked at Jazz. "Did Sam tell you anything about Tucker's scans? I didn't have a chance to ask him this morning when I helped him move things."

Jazz looked at her sadly and shook her head. "He still hasn't figured out where Danny is," she whispered back.

Maddie sighed and looked at her grandson again. "He will eventually," she replied, although she seemed to reassure herself more than anyone else. "He… will eventually."

* * *

Sam came to pick her son up around seven that evening, after clearing the inventory with Tucker at the museum. Though she was slightly disappointed that her son had not had a _ghost-free_ evening with the Fentons, she was pleased to see how happy he had been spending another evening over at their house.

Oblivious to her or to the Fentons, unsuspecting eyes watched the events from above.

_"Hmm… My, my, he certainly_ looks _like the one I was ordered to capture… But how do I know it for sure? And where are the Spirit Gems that he is supposed to have?" _

Down below, Andy walked out of the house with his mother, all the while waving goodbye to those within the building. Once the door was closed, he climbed into the sports car and his mother, after getting into the driver's seat, drove off.

_"And if this_ is _the one I am supposed to grab, why does he not set off any ghostly detection? Mystery hangs around this family of Ghost experts. I may need to lay low and keep an eye on them for a while."_


	8. Chapter 7

Sam was planning of spending another peaceful night in bed when the lights in the house were turned off. It was the first night she had been too exhausted to think about Danny, and she hoped not to be disturbed until morning.

Of course, after having done the things she had done as a teenager, chasing ghosts through dimensions and falling in love with a half-ghost, it would be too good to be true to have another restful night.

Tiny hands grasped onto her covers and shook her. Sam groaned tiredly and buried her face in her pillows.

"Mommy, Mommy, wake up," Andy whispered.

Sam tried to ignore him a minute longer before groaning and finally turning her head over in order to see him. "Andrew, it's nearing two o'clock in the _morning_," she groaned. "No more ghost stories tonight, okay? I need to catch up on some sleep…"

"But you gotta come see somethin'," Andy insisted.

"Not _now_. Mommy's exhausted…"

"But you just gotta! The piece of jewellery that I found at school is glowin' really bright!"

At these words, Sam opened her eyes again and stared at her son in confusion. "What piece of jewellery?" she asked.

"The green rock I found on the ground," Andy replied as his mother sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "It looked like an emerald, and it was really pretty, so I took it wif me. But now it's glowin' a lot, and I can't go back to sleep."

Sam stared at in silence before sighing and standing up. "Okay, then; let's go see what this thing is about," she said as her son led her out of the room.

* * *

The gem was indeed glowing brightly, for even before they had reached the room, Sam was able to see the ghostly glow. It seemed to fade in and out, like a beacon of some sort, signalling.

What surprised her was the size of the gem when she entered the room. It was small enough to fit in the palm of Andy's hand. Sitting on the lampstand next to the boy's bed, it glowed, casting everything in the room in an eerie green glow.

Sam stared at it in bewilderment as she walked over to it. Andy crawled onto his bed. "Why do you suppose it's glowin' like that, Mommy?" he wondered.

Sam held up the jewel and examined it. Every time it glowed, she could see mysterious swirls within it, as if it contained some kind of liquid.

"It doesn't _look_ like any emerald _I've_ ever seen," she said silently, rubbing her chin. She looked at Andy. "Are you sure you found this at school?" she wondered.

"Yeah," Andy replied with a nod. "No one was lookin' for it, so I put it in my back pack."

Sam nodded in reply and studied the gem again. "I wonder what it's supposed to be?" she said.

_Sam… _

Sam and Andy raised their heads when they heard a mysterious whisper in the air.

_Sam…_

Andy became a little anxious. "Mommy, who's sayin' your name?" he asked.

Sam did not reply and continued to listen, until she realized that the voice was coming from the gem. She gasped softly and looked at it.

_Put the Spirit Gem… into the portal… find the location... All four must be reunited…_

Sam stared at it in silence before looking at her son. Andy, although slightly intrigued by the request, seemed a little worried about what the entire message meant.

Sam clutched the gem in her hand and stood up. "I don't think this is an emerald, Andy," she said.

Andy looked up at her. "Then what is it?" he wondered.

"I'm not entirely sure," she said, helping him off of his bed. "But what I do know is that we can't keep it here. Come on, Andy; put on some socks and your shoes, and go get your jacket. We need to go visit your Uncle Tucker."

* * *

Sam took her scooter out and drove it across town to her best friend's place, Andy sitting on her lap. The entire town was quiet, like it normally was at night. Every now and then, there was a car that drove by or a person who walked, but no more than that.

It did not take too long before they arrived at Tucker's house—it was at the rich end of the town, considering he was the mayor of Amity Park and an inventor, and although it was not large enough to be considered a mansion, it was an incredibly large house, almost as large as Sam's childhood home had been.

She parked the scooter just outside the house and rushed up to the doors, followed by her son. "Okay, it's really early in the morning, so your uncle is probably fast asleep," she said.

Andy scratched his head. "So does that mean we're not gonna wake him up?" he wondered.

His mother smiled slyly. "And miss an opportunity at making his life miserable?" she teased, raising her hand to knock on the door. "I don't think so. You ring the doorbell, and I'll knock on the door."

Andy giggled and rushed over to the large button on the side of the door, and while he pressed it over and over again, making the chimes ring, his mother banged her fist on the door.

Sam sneered. "Man, I haven't done this to him in _years_," she said, looking at her son. "The last time I did, we were kids. I'll bet he'll be sleeping in his bed and wondering just who the heck it is who's waking him up at this time of night—!"

The door suddenly swung open incredibly quickly, taking both Sam and Andy by surprise.

Tucker leaned against the doorframe, glaring tiredly at the woman, while standing in his bathrobe. "I guess you were expecting me to be snoring too, right?" he said sarcastically. "Of course, I'd _never_ expect someone to come and knock on my door at night. The only two people who ever _did_ do that are either stuck in the Ghost Zone or live across the city."

Sam blinked several times before smiling and baring her teeth. "Good morning, Tucker," she said while Andy giggled. "I really expected you to be sleeping right about now."

Tucker raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, me too," he muttered. "But some weird dreams have been keeping me up. What the heck are you doing here at two o'clock in the morning, Sam?"

Sam dug into her pocket and pulled out the green gem Andy had found at school. It was still glowing brightly.

Tucker gasped and leaned towards it while widening his eyes. The reflection of the gem bounced off of his glasses.

"Andy found this at school," Sam explained. "He thought it was an emerald, but if you ask me, it's probably—!"

"—a _Spirit Gem_!" Tucker finished in awe.

Sam shared a confused look with her son before looking at her best friend again. "Okay, I was going to say something from the Ghost Zone, but that works too," she said.

Tucker shook his head. "No, no, this is a Spirit Gem, Sam!" he said, pointing at the stone. "It's what the voice was telling me in my dreams!"

Sam recoiled in shock.

Tucker looked about cautiously before grabbing both Sam and Andy by the arms. "Come in here!" he said, pulling them into the house and shutting the door behind them.


	9. Chapter 8

Tucker led them to the elevator that would take them to the basement. He punched in a code to open the doors. "When you held the gem, Sam, did you hear a voice speak to you?" he asked as they entered the elevator.

Sam shrugged as the doors closed. "Yeah," she replied. "But it wasn't very loud."

"Do you remember what it said?" Tucker wondered, looking at her once the elevator began to move downward slowly.

"Um, something about putting the Spirit Gem into the portal… and that we had to find the location… and that all four had to be reunited."

Tucker nodded thoughtfully. "That's what he said to me too," he whispered.

Sam frowned in confusion. "_He_?" she echoed. "What do you mean, _he?" _

Tucker looked at her. "You mean you didn't recognize the voice?" he asked in surprise.

"Um, _should_ I have?"

Tucker remained silent for a moment. "Considering it's been five years since we last heard it, I shouldn't be surprised if you didn't recognize it on the spot," he said quietly. "I didn't either, frankly."

"Tucker, what are you _talking_ about?"

The black man straightened out. "That voice, Sam…" he began. He placed his hands on Sam's shoulders. "That voice… was _Danny's." _

Sam stared at him in complete shock. "That was _Danny_ whispering to us?" she said.

Andy was intrigued. "Cool," he said. "I just heard my Daddy's voice!"

The doors to the elevator opened and Tucker walked out of it, entering his basement. "I'm not sure how he was able to contact us that way," he said, "But if he's trying to, it means something's up in the Ghost Zone."

He flicked a few switches and the entire basement was alit, revealing that it was an entire underground laboratory. Andy gasped in wonder at all the gadgets and technological inventions he could see; there were even special speeders and small ships. Most of them resembled things from his grandparents' lab.

But on the far wall stood the one thing that had always caught Andy's fancy: the round entrance to the Ghost Portal.

Andy was thrilled. "Oh, _wow_, Uncle Tucker! You have a Ghost Portal too?" he cried out excitedly. He had been at his uncle's house before, but he had never been allowed in the basement.

Tucker looked at him and grinned. "Of course I do," he replied. "You didn't think your Grandpa was the only one who knew how to make one, did you?"

"Not anymore! This is awesome!"

Sam walked over to her best friend. "Not that I'm _thrilled_ to be here, Tuck," she said, "But can we get back to the primary situation? Namely, about this _rock?" _

Tucker grabbed the jewel from her hand and held it up to examine it in the light. "In my dream, I heard Danny whisper that the four Spirit Gems needed to be united in order for them to function," he said. "He didn't specify what they were supposed to do, or what they were for. He mentioned that they had to be placed into the portal in order to start functioning." He looked at Sam again. "He _also_ mentioned finding the location. But what location, I have no idea."

"How do you know it was Danny telling us this, Tucker?" Sam wondered. "What if it wasn't him?"

Tucker shrugged. "Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't," he replied. "But what I _am_ sure of, is that whoever gave us this message is trying to give us a clue."

"A clue? A clue to _what?" _

"I'm not sure about that yet." Tucker grabbed his chair and sat down on it. He turned it around and came face-to-face with his three giant computer screens and began typing something down. "Anyway, I did a research on the so-called _Spirit Gems_ mentioned in the dream and came up with this," he added as Sam and Andy ran over.

Diagrams of all sorts appeared on the screens before them. Images of different shaped gems appeared.

"The Spirit Gems are precious stones that can only be found in the Ghost Zone," Tucker explained as he typed. "They can be used for all sorts of things, though most Ghosts just like to collect them. They are priceless gems to the dwellers of that zone, and because they are incredibly rare and hold secrets untold, many hunters have fought and even destroyed each other over them."

"Okay, so the Spirit Gems are like Blood Diamonds to Ghosts, right?" Sam guessed.

"Exactly."

"So, if they're only found in the Ghost Zone, how did Andy find one at school?"

Tucker turned around and looked at them. "I'm not sure," he said slowly. He looked at Andy. "Where exactly did you find this, Andy?" he asked, holding up the oval stone.

Andy pointed at the floor. "On the grass by a bush," he replied. "It was just sittin' there, so I picked it up."

"And no one just _left_ it there?"

"I don't think so. I didn't see anyone."

Tucker rubbed his chin and looked at the glowing gem again. "What's the deal with these things?" he wondered. "Why are we being told to put these into the portal? And what did he mean by _putting_ them into the portal?"

"And what _location_ do we have to find?" Sam added, rubbing her own chin.

"And if there's four rocks," Andy added with a shrug, "Where's the other three ones?"

Tucker looked at him in silence before suddenly feeling his hand begin to burn. He gasped painfully and dropped the gem, which had begun to glow brightly in his hand. "Yikes!" he exclaimed, shaking his hand about. "Since when to gems burn?"

Andy pointed at the stone. "Mommy, look!" he cried out. "The pretty rock is moving!"

It was; for at that moment, the green gem began to vibrate and immediately sped off across the floor.

Tucker turned around in his chair as all three of them watched the stone travel at incredible speed across the lab floor. It zipped around obstacles and slid beneath chairs, until it came to a halt at the entrance of the Ghost Portal.

"What; does it want to go home now?" Sam asked sarcastically as Tucker stood up.

They walked over to the portal and Tucker leaned down to pick up the gem. He studied it while it continued to glow and then rubbed his chin. "Put it in the portal," he whispered. He looked at Sam. "Do you think that message meant putting the Spirit Gems in the _Ghost_ Portal?"

"Beats me," Sam replied with a shrug while her five-year-old began studying the rim of the portal. "And if it did, did it mean that we need to toss it back into the Ghost Zone? What good is that?"

Andy stood on his tippy toes at the right side of the portal and stared at the strange markings he discovered there. "Mommy, there's something funny carved into Uncle Tucker's portal," he said, catching their attention.

Tucker and Sam rushed over and examined the markings. Tucker placed a finger in all three. "Hm; I've never noticed _these_ on the side of the portal before," he said. "I wonder if they mean anything."

Sam stared at them before looking at the gem she had taken from Tucker. It glowed brightly when she held it up and only seemed to grow brighter when it got closer to the carvings.

She held it up with two fingers and placed it near the carvings. Tucker leaned back while shielding his eyes. "Yo, Sam, if you're gonna hold it there, get me a pair of sunglasses!" he exclaimed.

"What's _with_ this thing?" Sam wondered aloud.

All of a sudden, the gem began to vibrate again and shot out of Sam's hand. It immediately planted itself into the first carving, fitting just perfectly.

Sam, Tucker and Andy stared at it in surprise before the Ghost Portal was magically activated. It hummed loudly and the barred doors over it unlocked and slid into the walls, revealing the green entrance to the zone.

Andy peered into it in wonder. "Oh, cool!" he cried out. "Does this mean we're going to the Ghost Zone, Mommy?"

"How the heck did it open up like that without the password?" Tucker wondered while scratching his head.

The computer screen next to the portal suddenly began to beep, catching their attention. Tucker and Sam turned and looked at it.

_"Loading Data. Loading Data_," the computer announced. _"Sending to main computer now." _

"What?" Sam wondered as Tucker turned and ran back to his computers.

The mare jumped into his chair and slid up to the keyboards. He began typing in different commands. "Load Data from portal," he commanded aloud before pressing the enter button.

The computer screens immediately turned a reddish-purple, with the illusion that its background went on forever into cyberspace. The outline of a rectangle appeared on the right side of each screen while a diagram began to take shape digitally to its left. The diagram turned on itself at a moderate speed while information began to type itself down in the box.

"What the heck kind of information _is_ this?" Sam wondered as she, Tucker and Andy stared at the screens.

Tucker peered over his glasses and squinted. "It's… it's giving some kind of combination of numbers and letters," he said, reading what was appearing in the box. "Kind of like… degrees or directions."

"Why would it be giving that kind of info?" Sam pointed out.

Tucker rubbed his chin. "Find the location," he said to himself. "Find… the location…"

The box stopped filling with bits of information and typed out, in bold letters, two different combinations of numbers.

"Those numbers correspond to a certain type of direction," Tucker noted. "Like longitude and latitude."

"But we're not looking for a map, Tucker!" Sam exclaimed impatiently. "What kind of bunk _is_ this?"

Tucker waved a hand in her face. "Just be quiet, Sam!" he scolded her. "I'm trying to think…" He was silent for a moment. "Maybe it's trying to find a location… _on_ a map."

"But _what_ location _is_ it?"

The computer suddenly beeped, catching their attention. _"Location found; location found," _the computer announced expressionlessly.

"What are we trying to find?" Andy wondered in confusion.

Tucker leaned towards a microphone near the giant keyboard. "Computer, determine location of _what_ has been found," he asked calmly.

The computer made a few beeps and finally completed the diagram next to the picture. A red line swept over it from bottom to top, giving it colour and a distinct look.

Sam and Tucker watched as the image completed itself. Once it was through, their eyes went wide and they leaned back while gasping.

The diagram was an image of the body of Danny Fenton.

"Oh my gosh!" Sam exclaimed as she covered her mouth. Tears of joy filled her eyes. She looked at Tucker and shared his excited smile. "It's Danny's body, Tucker! It's located Danny's _body!" _

"That Spirit Gem must have held the combination of longitude and latitude of Danny's location," Tucker said with a grin. He passed a hand over his face. "I can't believe it! We've just _found_ Danny!"

Andy jumped up and down, trying to see better. "I can't see him, Mommy," he complained. "I can't see what Daddy looks like!"

Tucker picked him up around the waist and raised him up. "You see that, Andy?" he said with a smile. "That's your Dad. That's Danny Fenton."

Andy stared at the image in silent wonder. The man looked exactly like him.

"Why are his eyes closed?" Andy noticed, pointing at the image of his father.

Tucker and Sam looked at the image. "I'm not sure," Tucker replied. "It might be because the body's in a state of suspended animation or something."

"What's that mean?"

"It means that he's sleeping," Sam replied. "For a long time. Until we find him."

Andy smiled. "Does this mean that Daddy's finally coming home, and that I'll meet him for the very first time?" he asked excitedly.

Tucker placed him back on the floor. "It sure as heck does mean that, Squirt!" he said. "I don't know why, but that jewel must have been like some kind of map to finding Danny." He typed in a command. "Let's just bring up the map of the Ghost Zone and pin point his exact location."

The digital map of the Ghost Zone appeared over the computer screens. Another box popped up in the middle and Tucker typed in the longitude and latitude here.

He smiled and looked at Sam. "With this click, Sam," he said, "We'll be one step closer to bringing Danny home for good."

Sam smiled back and looked up at the screen again. "Push it, Tucker," she said.

Tucker held up his finger and looked up at the map. "This treasure hunt is finally—" His finger came to rest on the enter button. "—_over!" _

The computer began to combine the information given to the map of the Ghost Zone. It took several seconds before the blinking red light appeared.

But to everyone's complete surprise, the red light was registered… at the very _center_ of the map.

Tucker's smile immediately disappeared. "What?" he said in shock.

_"Location found_," the computer announced. _"Location found…"_

"Location? _Location?"_ Tucker exclaimed furiously. "That's not the combination I typed in! That's the middle of the zone! THAT'S NOWHERE!" He slammed his fist against the keyboard several times as hard as he could. "NO, NO, NO!"

"Tucker, calm down," Sam said as gently as she could.

Tucker looked at her. "Calm _down?" _he cried out. "Calm _down_? Sam, that gem just gave us the exact location of Danny's body, but it only comes up as the very _middle_ of the entire zone!" He buried his face in his hands. "Stupid, STUPID! There are different realms in the zone, different worlds, which means different latitudes and longitudes! Why do we only have one piece of the puzzle? WHY?"

Sam placed her hands on Tucker's shoulders. "Yelling at a stupid computer won't make the situation any better," she said. "We'll find him, Tucker; we'll find him."

"But _when_, Sam? It's been five _years_ since we could hang out with him or even _look_ him in the face! Five _years_! I just can't live like this anymore! The only guy who gave a hoot about who I was is stuck in a zone, looking for a body he just can't find! And the only clue we've got to help him find it is _incomplete!" _

"If it's just one piece of the puzzle, then there must be more," Sam replied. "This is only the beginning of the mystery, Tucker; we'll figure it out."

Andy listened to them silently, suddenly struck deeply by just how important his father was to his uncle and his mother. He wasn't only a hero or an astronaut; he was their best friend, someone they could never imagine their lives without.

The five year old looked at the Ghost Portal, trying to think of what he could do to help, when he suddenly realized something. He gasped softly and tugged on Tucker's bathrobe, catching the man's attention. "Mommy's right, Uncle Tucker," he said. "It's just the first clue!" He held up four fingers. "Member the message? It said that all four rocks had to be re… re… re—!"

"Reunited," Sam said with a grin, encouraging him to go on.

Andy smiled at her. "Right," he said. He looked at Tucker. "That means that there's four Spirit gems. Not one, and on the Ghost Portal, there were three slots. We only filled one. So that means that two more rocks go there."

"Two more that we don't _have_," Tucker said heavily. "Which still leaves us at square one."

Sam frowned and swatted him across the head, making Tucker groan painfully and rub his scalp. "He's _trying_ to make you feel better, Birdbrain," she said.

Tucker glared at her before looking at his nephew. He grinned weakly. "You've got a good eye, Champ," he said gently.

Andy smiled proudly.

Sam looked up at the clock and then sighed. "We'll deal with this tomorrow," she said. "It's a Friday, I've got the day off and there's no school for Andy, but it doesn't mean that he can still stay up late." She held out her hand. "Come on, Kiddo; we need to go home now."

Andy moaned. "Can't we sleep over at Uncle Tucker's house?" he asked. "He won't be alone!"

"Nice try, but we're going back."

Tucker sighed and stood up. "Your mom's right, Andy," he said. "Though I would enjoy the company, you should go sleep at home." He rubbed his head again and sent a sarcastic glare at his best friend. "It'll keep _me_ safe, at least," he mumbled. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Andy made a grimace and walked over to his mother. "Okay," he mumbled. "Good night Uncle Tucker."

Sam pointed him in the direction of the elevator before turning and looking at Tucker. Sadness yet hope filled her eyes. "We'll find him, Tucker," she said. "I just know it."

Tucker smiled sadly. "It's funny how you keep reminding _me_ that," he said, "But you keep forgetting to tell that to yourself."

Sam remained silent. She sighed shakily and stared down at her feet.

Tucker waited a moment and then placed a hand on her shoulder. When Sam looked up, tears had filled her eyes as she fought to keep them from spilling out. "I miss him so much," she squeaked. "I don't know if I can last another year without him, Tucker."

"There won't _be_ another year without Danny," Tucker replied softly. "You've done everything to keep my hopes up, now it's my turn to keep up yours." He paused for a moment before continuing. "We'll find him, Sam," he whispered, repeating the words she so often said to him. "I just know it."

Sam smiled back and hugged Tucker tightly. He placed his arms around her.

"It'll be so great to have Danny back," she whispered. "We can finally be a family again."

Tucker smiled while looking at the computer screens. "We sure will be, Sam," he said.


	10. Chapter 9

Although he had been up until nearly three in the morning, Andy was the first one awake in his house. By the break of dawn, he had gotten changed, ate breakfast, and brushed his teeth. When he had gone back up to his room to play with his toys, his mother finally got up and went to take a shower.

Andy was playing out another rescue scene of Danny Phantom when he heard something outside his window. He raised his head while holding a figurine of average kid Danny and Tucker. "Hello?" he said aloud, looking at the window.

When no one replied, he put down his toys and walked on his bed up to the window overlooking it. He peered out and searched the area in silence until something on the roof of a nearby building caught his attention. He gasped softly and looked in that direction, and could have sworn he saw something fade out of view.

_A ghost_? He wondered.

He continued to stare in that direction when suddenly, two red eyes appeared out of thin air. Although they had no irises, Andy had a feeling that they were staring straight at _him. _

These did not look like friendly eyes. The five-year-old shrunk fearfully and wondered what he should do.

His mother called out to him from the hallway as she came out of the bathroom. Andy turned his head and stared at his door before looking out the window again.

The eyes were gone.

* * *

Tucker arranged for them all to meet in the park in front of Town Hall that morning at eleven. Sam brought along Andy, considering the boy did not want to miss out on a ghost hunt—or so he called it—and Jazz came along as well. Jack and Maddie remained at home, busy with another creation.

They all sat down at a picnic table and while filling Jazz in with what information they had, Tucker opened his laptop and began pulling out the data from the night before, which he had copied onto his portable computer. Once the story had been told, he redirected everyone's attention to his laptop.

Tucker pressed the enter key and the red blip that was supposed to show Danny's location appeared at the center of the ghost zone map on the screen. He turned it to show Jazz. "This is as far as we got with it," he said. "I don't know why, but the rest of his location must be located on the other stones." He pulled out a tiny box from his backpack and handed it to Jazz. "Unfortunately, we don't know where those jewels are, or why they can even lead us to Danny in the first place."

Jazz opened the box and stared at the glowing green jewel inside. "Oh, wow," she said. "This thing is beautiful."

"Beautiful, but it's not giving us anymore help than what we already got from it," Sam replied. She held up three fingers. "The ghost portal at Tucker's house had three engravings on one of its panels, but we have no idea what the other gems even look like."

"Actually, I did a bit more digging, Sam," Tucker began, typing in on his computer, "And found out that, in fact, every ghost portal created by man has these markings. No one knows why, so those who own one always figured that it was just a symbol of the location of the portal or maybe even the serial code or something."

"Seems logical," Jazz agreed. "So what do we do now?"

"We start looking for the other Spirit Gems," Tucker replied. "For some reason, they each hold a clue to finding Danny's body, so we've _got_ to get all of them together."

"It still doesn't explain how he—or whoever—was able to contact you by your dreams or the gem," Jazz pointed out. "How was Danny able to do that?"

Sam, Tucker and Andy looked up at her in silence.

"And what's more, _why_ would he start doing it now, if he could have done it in the past five years?"

Again, everyone remained silent, pondering the words that had been spoken to them, until another voice, one different from either of theirs, spoke up and broke the silence:

"The reason he _could_ contact you is because he was the one who first _touched_ the gems, my dear."

Jazz raised her head and looked in the same direction as everyone else did. A man with greying hair, a thick moustache, dark brown eyes and a pair of reading glasses on his nose, walked towards them, holding a suitcase in his hand. He was dressed quite formally, with dress pants and a buttoned shirt and tie.

"Who are you?" Sam wondered as Jazz stood up.

"He kinda reminds me of Mr. Lancer," Andy muttered, making Tucker laugh.

Jazz ran up to the man while smiling. "Dr. Johnson!" she said, shaking his hand as he came to a stop by the picnic table. "What a surprise to have you here in Amity Park! Are you visiting relatives?"

"Not entirely, Jasmine," the English scientist replied with a grin of his own.

Jazz looked at the others. "Guys, I want you to meet Dr. Michael Johnson," she introduced.

Sam nodded her head politely while Andy waved. Tucker gently saluted him and grinned. "Yo," he replied.

"Dr. Johnson is the head of the research labs at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas."

At these words, Tucker was immediately blown away. "You mean… you mean _you_ work at NASA?" he said in shock, pointing at the man.

Johnson raised his head a little and smiled gently. "I do," he replied.

"So then… no, that wouldn't be possible; there's _hundreds_ of people who work there—!"

"Are you saying that it would be highly unlikely that I would have met a certain astronaut?" Johnson clarified. He smiled a little more and chuckled softly. "It depends on which astronaut you speak of, Mayor Foley."

Tucker and Sam stared at him in confusion until Jazz stepped in. The woman with orange hair smiled at them. "Guys, Dr. Johnson was Danny's mentor," she said.

At these words, both Tucker and Sam raised their eyebrows in surprise. Johnson nodded in reply. "Daniel was an ace student at the Space Academy of NASA," he said. "His theories and ideas have helped improve on many different levels our training systems."

"So, you personally _knew_ Danny?" Tucker asked.

"I did. We worked on certain projects together while he was still enrolled at NASA." He looked at Jazz. "It's a pity he went… _missing_ when he did." He looked at the others again. "He had a big future ahead of him, you know."

No one spoke for a while until Sam grew impatient and stood up. "Okay, not that I'm not glad to meet Danny's teacher," she said, crossing her arms, "But we've got some work to do, if you don't mind."

Johnson looked at her and smiled. "You must be Samantha Manson," he said.

Sam raised her eyebrows in shock yet remained silent.

"Daniel spoke very highly of you. He said that there was no other who knew him as well as you did."

Sam was incredibly touched. All that time, while she had been studying at university, she thought Danny had completely forgotten about them while at NASA. She smiled timidly and blushed.

"Forgive me," Johnson apologized when he noticed her flush. "I did not mean to embarrass you, Miss Manson. Danny told me you were not the kind of woman who enjoyed _cuteness." _

Sam hid her blush by looking away. "I'm not embarrassed," she muttered.

Johnson looked at the boy sitting next to Sam and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, my goodness," he said softly. "Do forgive me, but this boy… would not happen to be related to Daniel Fenton, would he?"

Andy grinned in reply.

"That's Andrew," Tucker pointed out. "He's Danny's son."

Johnson looked at him. "Danny never told me he had a child," he said. "He never mentioned it in the emails he sent me a few summers ago…"

"That's because he didn't know he _had_ one," Jazz explained. She looked at Johnson with sad eyes. "Danny disappeared before Sam could give him the news."

"Disappeared…" Johnson echoed. He nodded uncertainly and looked at Tucker again. "Yes, I remember; his family called to tell us that Daniel had mysteriously… disappeared…" He set his suitcase down on the table for a moment. "Tell me, Tucker—!" He paused a moment and grinned a little. "You _are_ Tucker Foley, right?"

"Yes," Tucker replied.

Johnson smiled a little more. "Daniel spoke very highly of you," he said. "Said that you were the only one who knew how to make things look brighter when something was wrong." Johnson chuckled. "He also said you were so intelligent, and I quote, 'that you could almost never _shut up.'" _

Tucker narrowed his eyes, making Sam laugh in the background. The mayor crossed his arms. "Figures Danny would say something like that," he muttered.

"I do believe he meant it in a positive way, Boy," Johnson said with a soft laugh. He cleared his throat before going on. "Anyhow, as I was saying before," he continued, "I would like you to answer something of great importance…" He looked at his suitcase. "Tell me, Tucker… how _did_ Danny disappear?"

Tucker remained silent, wondering what he should say to this. He looked at Sam for help. But when all she did was shrug, he looked at the scientist again and cleared his throat. "Uh, we're not exactly sure," he replied. "He was just here one day… and the next… he was gone."

Johnson nodded in reply, but he did seem incredibly certain. "Please, Children," he said, "Do not take this the wrong way, but… when will you tell me the truth?"

These words startled everyone, even Jazz. Johnson looked up at Jasmine. "Danny did not just _walk_ away," he said. "I know him. If there was anyone who hated going down without a fight, it was him. That's why he was so quickly chosen to be an astronaut. He had a determination that could be found in no one else. He _hated_ losing without first proving himself at least able to fight for what he wanted." He looked at Tucker. "Daniel did not just _disappear_, did he? At least, not in the manner that you've all had us thinking he did."

No one spoke. Tucker and Sam looked at each other before Tucker dared to speak up. "What are you getting to, Doctor?" he asked, slightly concerned.

Johnson opened his suitcase and reached into it. "Daniel told me more than you know, Mr. Foley," he said. "Much more than any of you would expect him to tell someone other than yourselves." He pulled out a small box and looked at Tucker again. "A secret that could change the world," he added softly.

Tucker, Sam, Jazz and Andy remained silent, not certain what to expect.

Johnson lifted his head a little. "Danny is _half ghost_," the scientist said softly. "He's Danny _Phantom." _

The others stared at him in complete disbelief. Andy pointed at the man. "You know his secret?" he exclaimed. "But no one knows! How did you know who my Daddy was?"

Johnson looked at the child and grinned weakly. "You ask good questions," he said. "Much like your father did."

"What's going on, here?" Tucker demanded to know. He frowned at the scientist. "How do you know about Danny's secret identity, and why are you here?"

Johnson looked at him. "I know many things," he said, holding up the little box. "And I believe that I may know something that will help you find Daniel."

He opened the box and showed its contents to Tucker. The mayor gasped.

Inside was a red, square gem, glowing brightly, in the same manner as the green one Andy had found.

"A spirit gem?" Tucker whispered in shock, as everyone stared at the scientist.

Johnson nodded. "And the second clue to finding your friend," he whispered.


	11. Chapter 10

Johnson asked for a private place, where they could speak without the fear of being watched. Although Tucker's office was the closest, he knew that there were cameras around the hall, which could risk their information leaking out.

So he drove them to his house.

On the way there, they explained briefly about the events from the summer five years ago that led up to Danny's disappearance.

Tucker led them back down to his lab and turned on the lights. "How did you get the Spirit Gem?" he wondered once they were all inside.

"A good question," Johnson replied. "What _I_ am wondering is how _you_ received the first."

"Andy found it on the ground by his school," Sam answered.

"May I see it again?"

Tucker pulled the gem out from his pocket, like he did on his way to the house, and handed it to the professor. Johnson held it up and nodded. "It certainly is the same one," he said. He looked at Tucker. "So, from what you told me briefly in the vehicle, Daniel's physical body is _trapped_ in the Ghost Zone?"

"That's pretty much it," Tucker replied. "I've tried for the past five years to locate his body, but only yesterday did I actually start making some progress."

Johnson suddenly noticed the portal on the wall. He raised his eyebrows and stared at it in awe. "Goodness," he whispered. "Did you build this Ghost Portal on your own, Mr. Foley?"

Tucker looked at it. "Yeah," he replied. He looked at the scientist. "How did you know it was a Ghost Portal?"

Johnson walked up to a table and set his suitcase down. "I believe now is the time for me to give you some answers," he said. He opened his suitcase and pulled out a picture frame of him and Danny working on the portal in his lab. "Daniel was an incredibly quiet student at NASA," Johnson began as he handed the frame to Tucker and the others. "Although he worked amazingly well in a group, he seemed to prefer and even _relish_ his moments alone. He requested to have a room to himself, and for a long time, no one knew why the door was constantly locked. Daniel just preferred to be alone."

The man sat down on a chair. "One day, after sitting through one of my sermons, Daniel came to see me in my laboratory to ask a few questions. It was then that he stumbled upon my interest in the supernatural. He saw plenty of items and machinery that he said resembled certain objects in his parents' laboratory, and concluded that I was a ghost hunter."

Tucker studied the picture frame before chuckling and looking at the scientist. "That's Danny for you," he said. "Always came to conclusions way too fast. He must have been freaked out."

Johnson smiled in return. "He did become incredibly anxious and seemed so desperate to leave the lab immediately," he went on. "He told me that he would ask the questions at a later date, but I had already noticed that something was making him feel incredibly uncomfortable. So I asked him to sit down and tell me what was bothering him." Johnson laughed. "That's when I told him that I wasn't a Ghost Hunter; only a researcher.

"Daniel seemed much more relaxed once I had told him the truth, though he was still a little anxious. He asked me if I believed in ghosts, and I told him that if I did not, I would not be studying them on my spare time. That's when he told me about his parents and how they had managed to create a Ghost Portal to the Ghost Zone.

"So I showed him the portal that I was having difficulty putting together. Everything I tried only seemed to make it malfunction. Danny immediately pointed out what was wrong and for the next few days, when he was not studying or training, he came to my lab and helped me build my Ghost Portal."

Johnson took the picture frame back and put it in his suitcase. "Daniel seemed almost excited to be building the portal, though I had no idea why," he went on. "When I asked him, he said that it just made him feel… like he was back home. Though it made no sense whatsoever to me, I was only glad that I had managed to pull the lad out of his solitude.

"Daniel would sometimes work for hours on end in the lab, even after the Center had shut down. The funny thing was that no one, not even the security guards, heard or even _knew_ that he was there. It was as if he could work on things without making himself known.

"Once the portal was completed, Daniel continued to come and visit to see what I was up to. He asked if I had tried to activate it, and although I said I did, I never dared to enter it. I did not know what lay on the other side. Daniel seemed hesitant, but then suggested that I let _him_ go through. Of course, I refused, not wanting to put one of my students into jeopardy, but he told me that he had already been in the Ghost Zone. When I asked how this was possible, he fell dreadfully silent, almost as though contemplating whether to tell me something important or not."

"And he did," Sam said softly. "Didn't he?"

Johnson looked at her and smiled while nodding. "He sat down and asked if he could trust me. He said that, since he had first come to NASA, he had never actually trusted anyone as much as this. I gave him my word not to reveal anything that he was about to tell me, and I knew that he felt the truth in my words; for then he stood up, turned to face me, and right before my very eyes, transformed into the ghost the world knew as… _Danny Phantom." _

Andy was incredibly silent, soaking in every detail of the story. His eyes were bright and glued on the professor, much like the eyes of everyone else in the room.

"He told me that when he was fourteen, he had entered his father's Ghost Portal and accidentally activated it," Johnson explained. "Since that day, his DNA had been fused with ectoplasm, giving him abilities that no human could ever possess. Over the years, he learned to control his powers and even gain new ones. But shortly after high school, before he was to enter NASA, he had decided to put his ghost fighting past behind him and live a normal life. He said NASA was the way he could escape his hometown and his past and never look back at it."

Jazz sighed and sat down on a table. "I remember that," she said heavily. "Danny wanted to be normal again. So he asked Tucker to wipe out the memories of everyone in the world except for our family's. He was able to, thanks to the power of technology, but then shortly after that, Danny left home, almost as though he wanted to forget everything himself… including his friends."

"Which ended out being a _lie_," Johnson clarified. When they all looked at him in surprise, he continued. "Daniel told me that, despite his efforts to run from who he was, he could not ignore the urge to transform and practice, or the feeling he felt when he flew through the midnight sky. That's why he locked himself in his room so often. It was the only place he could go to be alone and to transform without anyone seeing.

"And although he tried at first to forget all of the people he knew, he never could. That's why he told me all about you. He told me about his sister, who, despite her ability to get on his nerves, protected him and would protect him from anyone who tried to harm him. He told me about his best friend, a _techno geek_, he labelled him, who could crack any code and decipher any language. He told me about the one girl who seemed to know everything, who knew how to slap him back into position, and who had become the _only_ woman who could capture his heart. He had left Amity Park in the hopes of starting anew, but every time he spent an entire day away without thinking of anyone from home, his nights were filled with dreams about them."

Johnson sighed and continued with his story. "Anyway, after showing me his secret, he suggested that he traveled into the ghost zone to find me some samples to study. I was slightly hesitant, concerned something would happen to him, but he assured me that all would be well. So, every day after his classes, for the next four weeks, Daniel would transform and enter the Ghost Zone, returning with a new substance for me to study.

"He seemed to enjoy popping in and out of the portal like that; it made him smile a bit more every day. But then one day, he returned completely drained of strength. He had encountered a ghost he had never met before, and had not been ready to fight him. He _was_ able to defeat him, but the attack left him weak and dazed for several days. It was then that I decided to stop using the Ghost Portal.

"When he recuperated, he suggested entering again, but I absolutely refused. I was worried he wouldn't return at all this time. And the last attack not only had left him ill for nearly a week, but had left a physical change; Daniel's hair, although still mostly jet black, had gained a few silvery white hairs, almost as though he had been attacked part way through his transformation. Although the change was hardly visible unless you were inches away from his head, it was there, and it gave me an even better reason not to let him go through.

"Daniel swore never to enter it again, and although he continued being a very constant visitor, he had once more become incredibly secretive. He never hesitated to speak to me if something was bothering him, but he did drop the subject of Danny Phantom whenever he could. I hardly heard him speak about it ever again, if you want to know the truth. And he never transformed after that."


	12. Chapter 11

Sam, Tucker, Jazz and Andy were incredibly silent. Through the entire story, they had listened with open ears and eyes; now, they were still hanging onto the silence, wondering what to make of it all.

Sam was the first to speak. "So, Danny never really dropped his abilities, did he?" she said. "He never really forgot who he was."

"Although he did continue to use his powers, Miss Manson, I'm afraid Daniel _did_ try to forget them," Johnson clarified. "And although he did not tell me verbally, I could tell by just looking into his eyes that he was trying desperately to forget who he was. He wanted his future to be Danny _Fenton_, not Danny _Phantom_. And after that mysterious attack, he made it perfectly clear that he wanted to forget his ghost half by simply never speaking of it again."

Tucker rubbed his chin thoughtfully before looking at the two Spirit Gems again. "Okay, so we know how _you_ know about Danny's powers," he said. "But that still doesn't explain how you had the second jewel this whole time."

Johnson looked at him and shook his head. "I repeat myself, Mr. Foley; _I_ should be asking _you_ how you came across the first," he repeated. "For initially, _I_ had all four Spirit Gems."

At this, Tucker, Sam and Jazz stared at him in complete shock. "You _what?" _Tucker echoed. "Are you saying that it was _you_ who put the first one in the school yard?"

"That is not what I said."

"But then—!"

Johnson raised a hand, making Tucker stop. He reached into his suitcase and pulled out a piece of paper. "Do you remember when I told you about how Daniel was attacked the very last time he came through the portal?" he said. He handed the paper to Tucker. "On that day, he had in his possession _four_ jewels, two of which are sitting on the table there."

Tucker stared at the paper and gasped as Sam and Jazz ran over to look as well. "He's right," he said. "There's the green one Andy found…"

"And that's the red one the scientist brought!" Andy added, pointing at the red squared jewel.

Johnson nodded. "The last samples Daniel brought for me from the Ghost Zone were those jewels," he said. "He had no idea why at first, but the ghost that attacked him was after those gems. While he was ill, I tried to decipher them and find anything out, but in this world, these gems have no value. They are as worthless as plastic jewellery is."

"But not in the Ghost Zone," Sam said. "Something about the Spirit Gems makes them incredibly valuable."

"Yes," Johnson agreed. "They hold great secrets, many of which I will never learn." He held up a finger. "But _Daniel_ knew. Once he had become well again, he rushed back to my lab and told me about the gems. He called them _Spirit Gems_. He had learned of their nature as a child, when he was studying the Ghost Zone. Apparently, they are incredibly rare and powerful. They can be used for several purposes. Ghosts _destroy_ each other for them, but once they leave the Ghost Zone, they lose their value and Ghosts don't want them any longer… Perhaps because they've been touched by humans, who knows?"

Tucker rubbed his forehead. "But if Danny was the one who found these, and you were the one who had them all, why did we find the first one here in Amity Park?" he asked.

Johnson shook his head. "The summer Daniel left to go visit his family, I discovered that three of the jewels went missing," he said. "I searched for them everywhere, because Daniel had told me to keep them safe—I had a feeling he knew something about them that I did not know of."

"So we _still_ don't know how the first gem ended up here," Sam said. "Or what they're for."

At these words, Johnson stood up. "Begging your pardon, Dear, but I happen to know what they are for," he said.

Everyone looked at him. Johnson picked up the gems. "They are a code," he said. "A code to opening a map. And if you've already deciphered the first clue imbedded on the green gem, then you will know that—!"

"—it's a map that will lead us to _Danny_," Tucker whispered in shock. He stood up. "But why Danny?"

"At first, I did not know," Johnson replied. "But after several hours of studying the jewel, I finally realized why.

"The Gems can be used as _tracking devices_. When Danny found them, his DNA rubbed onto the four gems and seeped into them. He must have known this, because he tried to steer clear away from the jewels whenever he came into my lab. He did not want to give away his position to other ghosts. Every time he entered the lab, the jewels began to glow."

Sam and Tucker looked at each other before staring at the jewels again. "So that would explain why it's giving us a clue to where his physical body is," he said. He rubbed his chin. "But that _still_ doesn't explain how the gems were parted and how Andy found the green one at the school."

"Someone was trying to hide them," Jazz guessed.

_"Or_ trying to steal them," Johnson added.

Sam waited a moment before reaching out to grab the gems from the professor. "For now, we might as well just put these babies to work," she said urgently. "If these act as tracking devices to find Danny, I've got a bad feeling that someone else may want to find the same thing as we do. So we'd better get the clues deciphered before whoever—or _whatever_—finds out first."

She placed her hands around the jewels and pulled them towards her before placing them together in one hand. Doing so, the two jewels flashed brightly, taking her by surprise.

_Sam…_ the same eerie whisper echoed.

Sam gasped softly at the warmth in her hands and dropped the jewels. Like before, both began to vibrate and slid across the floor until they ran into the portal.

Tucker rushed over to them and picked them up. "Did you already put yours into your portal, Dr. Johnson?" he asked.

"Yes," the scientist replied. "Though considering it was only one piece of the puzzle, it made no sense whatsoever to me. The only reason I knew it was about Daniel and that I had to bring it to his companions was that fact that an image of his body appeared on the screen of my computer. That's when I learned that Daniel hadn't actually _disappeared_. At least not in _this_ world."

"That's one way of putting it," Jazz muttered.

Andy ran up to his uncle and tugged on his pants. "Uncle Tucker, can I put mine in this time?" he asked eagerly. "I wanna put mine in!"

Sam grabbed her son and lifted him up while Tucker handed him the green jewel. "We'll put it in together, okay?" Tucker said with a grin.

Andy smiled and nodded in reply.

Johnson leaned over to Jazz. "He looks remarkably like his father," he whispered.

Tucker and Andy held the jewels over their appropriate areas and looked at each other. "On the count of three," Tucker said. "One, two, three."

They let go of the gems and watched them as they were magically sucked into their slots. They glowed brightly, activating the portal and opening it wide.

Sam put her son down. "Computer, send information to main hard drive please," Tucker asked, rushing over to his chair.

_"Loading data now_," the computer replied.

The screens on the computer were filled with the same data from the first jewel. Danny's body appeared, and this time, even transformed into his ghost form. Data typed down in the box next to him.

"Bring up the map of the Ghost Zone, Tucker," Sam instructed as her best friend typed in a command.

"Already on it," Tucker replied. Once the map was up, he typed in the longitude and latitude from the first jewel and pressed enter. "Let's hope this works better than last night," he whispered.

Everyone held their breath. At first, the red light remained in the center of the map; then, just as everyone was losing hope, it disappeared from sight. The map zoomed into a certain area and stopped. Here, the red light reappeared and began blinking, before it turned green and became solid. _"Location found_," the computer announced. "_Location found." _

"That's what it said to me when I activated the gem," Johnson noted.

Tucker leaned towards the microphone. "Computer, name item that has been found and exact location," he ordered.

There was silence for a moment, and then a small box with the image of a grinning Danny Fenton appeared next to the green dot. His name typed out beneath it. _"Daniel Fenton, alias Danny Phantom, has been located in Realm 13 of the Ghost Zone: Mist Abyss. Status: stable, in temporary suspended animation. Health is 100%."_

Tucker smiled brightly at the given information while Jazz and Sam cheered and hugged each other. "I can't believe it!" Jazz laughed happily. "We've found Danny's body! He can come home!"

"Daddy's gonna come home, Uncle Tucker!" Andy cried out as he hugged the mayor tightly. "My Daddy is gonna come home!"

Dr. Johnson, however, did not seem convinced. He frowned in frustration. "Wait a moment," he said, catching their attention. He rubbed his chin and shook his head. "This seems too easy," he said. _"Far_ too easy. For someone who has a high price on his head in the Ghost Zone, I don't think the gems would lead us that quickly to him."

"What do you mean, Professor?" Jazz asked.

"I mean, the Spirit Gems are like _life forms_ in the Ghost Zone, Jasmine," Johnson clarified. "They would _know_ if whatever they are leading to is special or not. Daniel is wanted as a ghost in both the Real World _and_ the Ghost Zone. He's a valuable prize, and he's essential to the protection and survival of Amity Park _and_ the Ghost Zone. Someone that precious would _not_ be located that easily."

"Then, what are we missing?" Tucker asked.

Johnson pointed at the other two gems on the paper. "These two," he said. "They must be some kind of defence mechanisms. Once placed in their proper places, they must deactivate whatever defences the gems have put up to protect Daniel's body. We may have found him, Mr. Foley, but if we do not locate these two gems before any other ghost does, we will not be able to revive him and put his ghost half and human half back together."

Tucker looked down at the jewels and rubbed his chin. One was blue and the other was white. The blue one was shaped like a triangle, while the white one resembled the shape of a star.

"How are we going to find the third and fourth gems?" he wondered aloud. "If they've been infused with Danny's DNA, they won't lead us to where the other two gems are. We need to figure out where they are on our own… but _where_ are they? They could be anywhere in the world."

Andy stared at the pictures as he sat on Tucker's lap and then suddenly gasped and pointed at the blue triangle. "It's here in Amity Park!" he cried out.

The adults looked at him. "What did you say, Andy?" Sam wondered.

Andy looked at his mother. "I know where this one is, Mommy!" he said. "And so does Uncle Tucker!"

"I _do?" _Tucker said in confusion.

Andy nodded and pointed at the gem again. "It's at the museum," he said. "It's part of your display for the Ghost Expo you put up. Remember, Uncle Tucker? You said you found it outside—!"

"—the Nasty Burger," Tucker finished, slowly understanding. He looked at the gem again and smiled. "He's right! Sam, this is the jewel that I was telling you about! It's at the museum as part of the display!"

"The Nasty Burger?" Johnson said. "Where on Earth is _that?" _

Sam looked at him. "It's a fast food restaurant in town that Tucker, Danny and I used to hang out around as kids," she said. "It was a meeting place for us when we would go on ghost hunts."

Johnson rubbed his chin for a moment and then raised his eyebrows in surprise. He slapped his forehead. "Bother me; why didn't I think that before?" he told himself. He looked at Sam. "The first jewel was found at your son's school is that correct?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

"Was that the same school that Daniel attended?"

"Sure it was," Tucker replied. "We all went to school at Casper Elementary."

Johnson nodded. "And the second jewel remained in my laboratory," he said. "Daniel spent most of his time in there with me as a student astronaut at NASA. He said it was the closest place to home for him." He pointed at the paper. "And the third jewel is part of a display at the museum, yet it was initially found at the Nasty Burger, a place where Daniel used to spend his time as a teenager." He looked at Jazz for a moment. "Do you understand what this means?" he said.

Jazz scratched her head. "Not really," she replied. "Only that the Spirit Gems decided to hide in places where—!"

She suddenly stopped cold in her words. She had just realized something, exactly at the same time that Sam and Tucker had as well. They all went wide eyed and looked at each other. "—Danny used to hang out!" they exclaimed in unison.

"Each Spirit Gem's been found at places where Danny used to visit often," Johnson agreed. "Which means that the forth one is probably somewhere like that as well."

"But how could they have ended up in those places?" Tucker wondered. "We still don't know how they were separated from your lab."

Johnson nodded solemnly. "I know now," he said. "And I know who was the one to do it."

Everyone looked at him. "Who?" Jazz wondered.

Johnson pointed at the image on the computer. "The same one who found the Spirit Gems," he said: _"Danny Fenton."_


	13. Chapter 12

After a few hours of going over their information with the scientist, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Andy and Dr. Johnson hurriedly gathered their things and rushed back out of the house. They drove Tucker's SUV down to Fenton works, where they sat Jack and Maddie down in the living room and explained what they knew.

Just as the others had been, Maddie was overjoyed to learn that her boy had been found; but after the last piece of information, even her husband was shocked.

_"Danny_ was the one who stole the Spirit Gems?" Jack announced. "But why would he _do_ that if he didn't want to be near them in the first place?"

"That's what I did not understand at first either, Mr. Fenton," Johnson replied. "But I understand his intentions now. Daniel was afraid that his location would be discovered by the ghost who had attacked him, and so when he left for Amity Park the summer he disappeared, he took with him three of the four gems. The first, he hid on the grounds of the school he attended as a child. The second, he left in my lab, where he spent his best hours at NASA. And the Third, he hid near the Nasty Burger, a restaurant he used to hang out at with his friends. This way, the gems were spaced out and because of their ghost-like abilities, they could go invisible and intangible whenever needed."

"But that's only three of the four Spirit Gems," Maddie pointed out. "What about the fourth one?"

Tucker took a step forward. "We haven't figured that out yet," he said. "For now, we're trying to figure out how to get the third one."

Maddie waved an arm in the air. "Tucker, you're the _mayor_," she said with a laugh. "You're the one who put the jewel in the display. I'm pretty sure the museum will let you take it back."

"Not exactly," Tucker said nervously. "I told them that the jewel was supposed to stay in its display. Yes, I can remove it, but being the stupid idiot I am, I had the most high tech security system placed around its display cabinet. Lasers, infrared cameras, dozens of guards on patrol, you name it. Even if I _wanted_ to get through that, I wouldn't only need the combination to opening the display cabinet, I'd need to do it _unseen_. And you'd need to be a _ghost_ to do that."

"Why can't you just get the combination?" Jazz wondered.

"The museum owner is the only one who knows it," Tucker replied.

"And?"

"He's gone on vacation until the end of the month."

Jazz stared at him in disbelief before slapping her forehead. "Yeah, you _are_ stupid."

"Like if I knew the gem was going to be a clue to finding Danny's body!" Tucker exclaimed. "I mean, I could go over now and see if he wrote it down for me just in case I wanted it back, but I don't have the code to turning off the security system. We'd still need to get passed _that_, Jazz."

Sam, sitting on the arm of the sofa chair on which her son was sitting, sighed and stood up straight. "Well, then I guess that means just one thing," she said.

Everyone looked at her. "What?" Tucker wondered.

She smiled deviously. "We're going to need to borrow it… _Danny Phantom style." _

* * *

While Sam explained her plan, little did anyone know that what they believe to be a secret mission was not as secret as they thought; just outside the window, two sets of glowing eyes watched the Fentons, completely unnoticed.

_"I told you the little one looks like him_," said the first ghost, looking up at the largest. _"It may be him under a spell." _

_"The Hybrid would be several decades older than that child by now, fool_," a deeper voice replied. _"And he would give off a ghost scent if it was he. This must be his child. His body must still be trapped in the Ghost Zone_." The largest ghost narrowed his eyes and squeezed his fist. _"We_ must _get a hold of those two last Spirit Gems; I tried to take them_ and _that ghost-man years ago. The amount of power he holds is enough to make me ruler of both worlds. And the Ultimate Control he just recently unlocked… Just_ think _of the destruction I can do with that."_?" the first wondered. _"The third is under lock and key, and the forth has yet to be discovered. How do we take the blue jewel?" _

"But how do we get the other two Spirit Gems

The second ghost smiled deviously and began to change shape. _"The same way they will first attempt to take it_," he replied. Once he had completely transformed, he looked at his companion and grinned as his eyes flashed red. "We ask Mayor Foley to change the security code."


	14. Chapter 13

Evening arrived, and by six o'clock, the Phantom Crew was ready to go retrieve their third Spirit Gem. Sam had thoughtfully come up with two plans, in case the first failed; much to everyone's agreement, her way of thinking was very similar to the way Danny thought.

Their first attempt was to have Tucker ask to change the code. This way, they could go to the museum without looking suspicious. Jack and Maddie went into the park across the street and played with their grandson while Sam, Jazz and Dr. Johnson waited in the Fenton RV outside the museum for Tucker's return.

They did not have to wait very long; hardly five minutes had passed before Tucker came walking urgently out of the doors of the museum. Hastily, he walked down the steps.

"That was quick," Jazz noticed as they looked out the side door.

"He does not look very pleased," Johnson noticed.

Tucker walked up to the van and looked at Sam with a worried frown over his face. "We've got a problem," he said.

"What kind of problem?" Sam asked.

"They did write the code down for me in case I felt like changing it to a better one," Tucker explained, "But they told me that I just came _in_ a few minutes ago and _changed_ it! They said that I asked not to write it down for me, and if I came back to get it, that they were not to let me know it again until the Museum owner returned from his vacation!"

"But you were with _us_ the whole time!" Jazz pointed out.

_"Duh!_" Tucker replied. "Where did you _think_ I was?"

Sam rubbed her chin thoughtfully, just as Maddie, Jack and Andy came back. "What's happening?" Jack wondered.

"Tucker can't get the code," Jazz replied.

"It seems as though he has already come in to ask for a change of codes," Johnson explained. "Which is very unlikely, considering Mr. Foley has been with us all afternoon."

"So they're not giving him the new code?" Maddie asked.

Tucker crossed his arms. "Apparently, I told them _not_ to," he replied.

Sam clasped her hands together. "Obviously, Tucker's being framed," she said.

"By who?"

"Not who; _what_. And that would be a ghost." Sam pulled out a laptop from the RV and punched in a command before showing Tucker the information. "A while back, Danny showed me different unique ghost powers that only certain spirits possess," she explained. "Some can control the elements; some can control the weather; and some can even change physical appearances."

"You mean like a shapeshifter, Mommy?" Andy announced.

Sam winked at him. "Exactly," she replied.

Tucker sighed and passed the laptop back. "Well, _that's_ great," he said. "A morpho-ghost is framing me to get to the Spirit Gems. I thought they were worthless once in this world."

"Whoever's framing you, Tuck, is probably not after the gems," Sam replied. "They're probably after the one the gems lead to."

"Daniel," Johnson whispered. "Then I have a horrible foreboding that it may be the same ghost who had attacked him at NASA."

Jazz rolled her eyes. "That's just great," she said sarcastically. "Even when he's in suspended animation he's wanted!"

Sam snapped her fingers and stood up. "Then it's on to plan B!" she said. "Tucker, Jazz and I will go gather our things at his house while Mr. and Mrs. Fenton go back to their place and grab what they'll need. Dr. Johnson, buy an expo pass for you and Andy and go check out the expo while we get ready. Report everything you see. We meet back here once the sun's gone down, and start operation _Spirit Gem 3."_


	15. Chapter 14

Andy had to act as though Dr. Johnson was his grandfather when they set foot in the museum—his mother said so. But he did not mind; he was helping out in a secret mission to save his father, so that was all that mattered when he entered the expo room while holding onto Johnson's hand.

Johnson looked at all the paintings of ghosts and the sketches done by Jasmine Fenton or other local artists of the ghosts Amity Park had encountered. "Fascinating," the man said in awe. "These pictures are incredibly accurate." He looked at the photos in another section. "And so are these. Daniel certainly had a knack for trouble, I'll come to that."

Andy pointed at a display. "Over here's where Uncle Tucker put all of the things about my Daddy, Dr. Johnson!" he said excitedly.

Johnson gently placed a hand on the boy's mouth. "Hush, hush, my boy," he chuckled, looking at the other people around them. "We mustn't give away your father's identity, remember? For now, he is only Danny Phantom."

"Oh; right."

They walked up to the section of Danny Phantom items and studied them. There was a giant painting, incredibly detailed, of the ghost-boy, and several news article clippings and photographs. Several children had donated pictures they drew of their hero as well. Inside the display box beneath the painting were several toys, action figures, stuffed dolls and even jewellery of the famed ghost himself. There were also sketches and notes in an open journal that Danny Phantom had written down at one point, detailing every single ghost he had busted in the past.

Andy pointed at the journal. "My mommy gave that," he said. "She said it belonged to my da—I mean Danny Phantom when he was a teenager. She said he used to draw down the bad guys and then write information about them. That one there is Skulker, the famous Ghost Hunter. He wants to hunt Danny Phantom all the time."

"You know very much about your father's career, Andrew," Johnson noted softly.

"He's my hero. I just can't wait to meet him for the first time. I hope he likes me."

Johnson chuckled and rubbed the boy's head. "I am quite certain that he will, my boy," he said. "When he worked with me, he told me how he would like to have a family one day. He never said when he'd have one, but he was certainly very fond of children."

Andy grinned at these words and looked up at an article that was hanging in a frame beneath the giant painting of the ghost-boy. It was the most recent article about Danny Phantom; the attack of the Ghost Keeper, the summer his father disappeared.

Andy pointed at it. "That's the day my daddy had to go away," He announced. "He lost all of his energy and his human body had to go to sleep in the Ghost Zone. Gramma and Grampa Fenton had to pretend not to know where he went, so they said he disappeared around the same time Amity Park was attacked."

Johnson stared at the news article, skimming over it quickly and looking at the pictures that came with it. There were a few photographs of the battle in question, and there was an image that showed the physical differences between the teenager ghost and the adult one from that day. The journalist who wrote the article wondered how the ghost was able to age physically, stating that it was a mystery no one knew the answer to.

"If Tucker was able to bring all of this information together, then the city must consider him their link to the famed ghost hero," Johnson muttered gently while rubbing his bearded chin.

Andy turned his head and gasped softly when he noticed the display unit at the very center of the giant room. He pointed at it. "Dr. Johnson, look!" he said. "There's the third rock!"

Johnson turned his head and raised his eyebrows. Sure enough, sitting on a stand inside a glass case, was the triangular, blue Spirit Gem. The third piece to their puzzle.

They walked up to the rope that separated the viewers from the display and stared in awe at the jewel. "There it is," Johnson whispered. "The third Spirit Gem. I wonder what defence mechanism it unlocks."

"Maybe it opens up the Ghost Portal and lets Danny Phantom out," Andy guessed. "Maybe one of the things it does is close all portals so that his ghost half can't come out. Because if it did, and he stayed out too long, it could make him disin… disen…" Andy frowned. "Disenteger—!"

"Disintegrate," Johnson corrected him with a soft laugh.

"Yeah. And if his ghost half disintegrates, he can't wake up his human body."

Johnson rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That is a very good deduction, Andrew," he said. "Perhaps that _is_ what it does." He looked about at the security cameras. "There must be at least four different cameras in here," he muttered. He looked at the paintings around the room. "And I noticed that each painting came equipped with a special motion detecting laser pointer. This may be more difficult than we anticipated. Your uncle certainly was not fooling around when he said he got the best security for this expo."

"We gonna go tell Mommy?" Andy guessed.

Johnson nodded. "Yes," he said. "I do believe we should."


	16. Chapter 15

Within two hours, the museum had not only closed, but the sun was gone and the streets were emptying. Although the warmth of summer was still lingering in the beginning of autumn, it was beginning to cool down.

Sam, Jazz and Tucker got what they needed from the mayor's house—spy gear, ghost defences and Tucker's portable Ghost Portal which he had finished creating the night before. Maddie and Jack went to the Fenton Residence to gear up as well, including bringing the RV and setting up communications, and especially not forgetting Fenton Thermoses, including the very same Danny used so often to capture Ghosts.

And considering they had to keep a low profile, Sam, Tucker and Jazz wore black clothes: Sam put on a black top and skirt, along with matching boots; Tucker wore black pants, a black sweater, and only traded his red beret for a darker one for that mission; as for Jazz, she had on a black jumpsuit, and a black turtleneck.

After meeting up with Johnson and listening to what he and Andy had to say about the expo, Sam tightened her utility belt and looked at everyone. They had parked the RV and Tucker's SUV across the park, keeping the museum in full view yet remaining hidden. "Okay, gang," she said, "Here's what we're going to do: Tucker, Jazz and I will come in from the top over the exposé while Mr. and Mrs. Fenton will keep track of the security guards down the other halls. Once we're on the roof, Tucker will crack into the security system and rewire the cameras in that room to make it look like nothing's happening. Then he'll rewire the others and send a signal back to the RV, where Dr. Johnson will keep a watchful eye over the entire progress, as well as control the communications. Once we've got the jewel, we get back out as fast as we can before they recognize Tucker. We'll set up his portable Ghost Portal and slam that gem into place. Am I clear?"

"Crystal!" Jack replied as everyone gave her the thumbs up.

Sam looked at her son, who was sitting quietly on a chair in the utility van. "You stay here with Dr. Johnson, okay, Sweetie?" she said. "It's too dangerous for little boys to go out."

Andy was quietly playing with his Danny Phantom toy while swinging his legs. He looked up at his mother and nodded, but no smile reached his lips. "Okay," he said, though anyone could tell that he was not very pleased about missing out on a rescue mission.

Johnson turned in his chair and looked at the boy. "Tell you what; you can help me keep an eye on the cameras, and when they come back, you can help your Uncle Tucker put in all the gems," the British man announced. "How does that sound?"

Andy looked up at him as he spoke and then looked down at his toy again. "Sure," was all he said.

Jazz tucked a Thermos in her belt and pulled out a grappling gun. "Then let's put this rescue mission to work, Team Phantom!" she said boldly.

* * *

They arrived discretely at the museum; Jack and Maddie immediately split and ran to different sections to keep an eye on the security guards; Tucker rewired the outdoor cameras and gave them the appearance of watching nothing; and then he, Jazz and Sam shot up their grappling hooks, snagged onto the roof and scaled the building.

Arriving at the top, Tucker led them to the skylights which overlooked the Ghost expo. They crouched down while he pulled out his night vision goggles and placed them over his glasses.

"That's a long way down," Jazz muttered.

"It'll feel a lot longer than it looks," Tucker added, removing his goggles. He looked at Sam. "There are lasers all _over_ the place in there, Sam. They shoot out from every painting, every display unit, every _wall_. We're talking about spaces large enough to fit our _foot_, if we're lucky."

"Then we'll just have to redirect them," Sam said, holding up a small mirror.

"Where the heck did you get _that?" _

"I may be goth, Tuck, but I'm still a woman. I need a mirror to see where I put my makeup, Birdbrain."

"Just asking."

Sam looked through a window while Jazz was busy cutting one out of its frame. "There's the gem," Sam announced, pointing at its display. "If it's still there, then the ghost who framed Tucker mustn't have come after it yet."

"That's good _and_ bad," Tucker announced as Jazz removed the first piece of glass. "We still need to get past the security system, and what's worse, I _still_ don't know what the combination of the code to the display is. If I get caught, I can get us all in boiling water, never mind get sent to jail."

Jazz and Sam looked at each other for a moment, contemplating on the consequences that could occur, and then shrugged the matter aside before getting back to work. "I can live with that," Jazz announced.

"Can't be any worse than spending detention with Mr. Lancer," Sam added.

Tucker looked at them and rolled his eyes. "Fine, who cares," he muttered sardonically. "I mean, I'm only the _mayor_ of Amity Park; I'll only lose my reputation and my house _and_ everything _else_ that came along with it."

"Lighten up, Tucker, it's not like you're actually _stealing_ it," Sam reassured him as they each tightened their belts and fastened their bungee ropes to the roof. "I mean it _is_ your gem."

"Technically speaking, it's the museum's. And I could get in big trouble if I'm caught stealing from the museum, Sam."

"You won't get caught. And neither will we."

Jazz placed her feet against the edge and looked at Sam and Tucker. She smiled boldly. "For Danny," she whispered.

Sam smiled back. "For Danny."

Tucker, finally getting over his concerns, grinned and pushed back his beret. "For Danny."

Together, they leaped into the open space inside and slid down slowly until they were only a few inches over the first set of lasers. From afar, they looked like giant spiders hanging over their web.

"Okay, so far, so good," Sam whispered. "Take out whatever you've got to reflect the lasers, guys."

Tucker and Jazz pulled out anything they had, from magnifying glasses to makeup mirrors or jewellery. Carefully, they lowered their arms into the sea of lasers and placed the objects in front of the lines of red light.

"Okay, here's what we gotta do," Tucker instructed. "Try to redirect the laser at its point of origin. If you hit the target right on, it should deactivate the laser. Don't do all of them, it'll take too long. Just do the ones that will let you get through to the ground."

They set off to work at redirecting the lasers. It was not an easy task, especially if you were keeping an eye on where your body was in comparison to the lasers.

Jazz managed to deactivate her first one. She sighed loudly. "Got one down," she whispered.

Sam did the same with hers. "Me too," she added.

"Me three," Tucker replied, deactivating his. "If you take one more out, Sam, we should be able to get down lower."

Sam did what she was told and then all three of them lowered themselves down to the next set of lasers.

Their ear pieces beeped. _"You guys have forty minutes before the security guards come check your area_," Maddie's voice whispered. _"We'll try to stall them as much as we can, but if they recognize us you're on your own." _

"Forty minutes isn't much to work with," Tucker muttered worriedly, wiping his forehead after getting through his next laser. "Man; Danny made this job so much easier by going intangible."

"Well, we can't do that, so we'll have to work with what we've got," Sam replied. She looked up at a security camera and placed a finger against her ear. "How's it looking, Dr. Johnson?"

_"Perfect, no one suspects you yet_," Johnson's voice replied. _"You are doing a magnificent job with the lasers." _

They continued on working downward slowly for the next thirty minutes. By then, Jazz, Sam and Tucker had managed to travel down low enough to reach the display unit of the jewel.

"Man, I feel like I'm in a movie!" Jazz said excitedly. "Or a video game!"

"A video game that's about to get hard," Tucker replied, lowering himself down to the case. He landed lightly on his feet. "You girls cover my back while I try to decipher the new code. I'll scan the pad for fingerprints."

Sam and Jazz put away their laser reflectors and pulled out a weapon of some sort. They held it at the ready, looking about for any signs of ghosts.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Sam muttered softly, looking around. She held her gun up. "Where's Danny's ghost sense when you need it?"

_"Who says you need it, my dear?" _

Sam gasped and swung around, just as Tucker and Jazz did the same. Leaning against the wall like a spider, was a black ghost that almost looked like the type of ghost Penelope Spectra was. Only this one was clearly male, and his eyes were filled with even more evil than Danny old enemy.

"That looks like one of the Shadow Ghosts," Tucker whispered in horror. "Those things are not easy to beat!"

Jazz pointed her gun at it. "Stay back, Ghost!" she growled. "We know how to use these things, and we're not _afraid_ to use them!"

The ghost smiled. _"Obviously you are, or else you would have shot me by now_," he said deeply.

Sam held up her weapon. "Keep working your magic, Tuck," she instructed. She glared at the ghost. "If you really are a Shadow Ghost, then we know you're weakness. Bright lights."

_"My, my, you certainly know your ghosts_," the black spirit chuckled. _"Danny Phantom taught you all quite well." _

"How do you know him?"

_"Every ghost in the Ghost Zone knows who_ he _is. He's the most powerful spirit in both worlds, known by all, feared by most_." The ghost placed a hand on its chest. _"But enough about what _you _already know. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shade, the most feared ghost hunter in the Ghost Realms." _

"I thought that was Skulker?" Tucker muttered.

The Ghost looked at him. _"Skulker is skilled, yes_," he said. _"But any ghost who's been defeated by Danny Phantom is of no threat to me. I happen to be the only one he's never vanquished." _

"Probably because he's never met you before," Jazz pointed out.

Shade smiled darkly. _"Oh, not true _," he said. _"Danny _has _met me before; several years back, actually. At NASA. Gathering samples and unknowingly floating onto my hunting grounds. He entered my realm, and with the Spirit Gems, he was an even _bigger _prize." _

"So _you're _the ghost that attacked him!" Sam gasped. "Why do you want him? He destroyed the Ghost Keeper, who was probably a hundred times stronger than you are! Danny could beat you in a second!"

Shade raised his head. _"Perhaps when he is whole, he can _," he said. _"But unfortunately, his real body is lying in suspended animation, which means that he is not nearly as powerful as he once was." _

Sam shook her gun. "Shoot!" she scolded. "Danny's powers must have been split when he lost his body, Tucker!"

"Not split, Sam," Tucker replied without looking up. "Just weakened. He's still incredibly powerful, but without his human half, he's just a ghost."

_"A ghost with the only amount of strength to unleash Ultimate Control _," Shade finished. _"He's a valuable prize for many, now _." He bared his jagged teeth. _"And now that I know of his location, I just need the two last gems and he's all mine. Once I destroy his body, his spirit will weaken and break, rendering him ripe for the picking. Think of all the power I can behold when Danny Phantom meets his Maker! All that energy will be transferred to me!" _

"How do you know of his location?" Jazz gasped.

Shade looked at her stupidly. _"I'm a _ghost," he said. _"I can phase through walls and peep through windows unseen, and eavesdrop on what you silly humans plan to do. I thought you knew that already." _

"Great! That's just great! Tucker, are you almost done?"

"Gimme a break, Jazz!" Tucker snapped. "It's not as easy as it looks!"

Shade crouched and growled. _"I have searched for his body since I met him _," he said. _"And I will not let a group of puny humans stop me." _

Sam pulled out the ghost light from her belt. "Guess again, Ghost!" she said, turning on the flashlight.

The bright light streaked across the room and fell over Shade's body. The ghost hissed and covered his eyes, but after a moment grew used to it and smiled deviously.

Sam stared in dismay. "I don't get it," she said. "You should be doubling over in pain by now!"

_"I'm not a mere Shadow Ghost, Dear _," Shade replied. _"I've also unlocked many other abilities, including a defence against bright lights. The only light that can defeat me is the one within the most powerful ghost, but considering he isn't here, I don't need to worry about it." _

Jazz lowered her gun. "What did you mean by other abilities?" she asked worriedly.

Shade laughed darkly and floated towards them. His body began to take a different shape before their very eyes, one that they all recognized.

Sam gasped and poked Tucker with her gun, catching his attention. "Tucker, I think I just found your framer," she said nervously.

Tucker turned his head in Shade's direction and gasped. "He can _morph?_" he exclaimed.

Hovering in Shade's place was in fact, Tucker; the only difference was that he was not only floating in mid air, but his eyes were glowing red.

"He's learned how to shapeshift!" Sam gasped in shock as she and Jazz raised their weapons again.

Shade smiled cunningly. "I bet Danny Phantom doesn't know how to do this, does he?" he spoke in Tucker's voice.

"Great!" Tucker complained, getting back to his work. "Now I've got a twin to worry about!"

"You certainly are a powerful man, Mr. Foley," Shade replied. "Those clerks were stupid enough to actually promise not to tell you the code." The ghost transformed back to its original state and its smile disappeared. _"But now, I am through playing games _," he said. _"I've come to retrieve the Spirit Gem, and with it I expect to take the other three. Now hand it over, or expect to be attacked." _

"Attacked?" Jazz laughed. "It's three against one!"

"Technically, it's _two _against one, Jazz," Tucker muttered, continuing to work on the code.

"Whatever. You're still out numbered, Ghost! So there!"

Shade smiled darkly again. Just as he did, five other spirits like him, only smaller, phased through the wall.

Sam glared at Jazz. "Next time you want to jinx our luck, do it when Danny's around to lend a hand!" she snapped.

Shade pointed at them. _"Stop them!_" he hissed. _"And bring me the jewel!"_


	17. Chapter 16

The shadow ghosts hissed and showed their fangs.

"Tucker, they're gonna come and get the gem!" Sam shouted worriedly.

"They can't break through it!" Tucker reassured her. "There's a ghost shield around the display, so they won't be able to grab the gem until I crack this code—which I can't seem to do!"

Sam groaned and pointed her gun at the ghosts. "Fine!" she said. "Then we'll round these guys up and cover your butt!"

"Make sure your Fenton anti-ghost belt is activated, girls; you're in for one heck of a battle!"

The ghosts roared angrily and charged for them. Sam and Jazz gasped and began to shoot lasers at them, all the while beginning to swing in different directions to miss attacks thrown back.

Tucker continued to unlock the display unit, all the while watching out for lasers and ghost rays. "Come on, you stupid box," he groaned under his breath. "Let me crack you, for Pete's sake." He looked up and gasped, just before ducking and evading an attack. "Whoa! Yo, Sam! I like my head on my shoulders, Girl!" he shouted out.

"Just shut up and decipher that code, Techno-geek!" Sam yelled angrily, pulling out her Thermos. She pointed it at a ghost and pressed the button, pulling it in. "I've got one!" she shouted out, pushing off of the wall before she was hit.

Jazz flew up into the air with her rope and sucked in another ghost with her thermos. "Me too!" she replied.

"Three more to go, not counting the big one!"

Their earpieces began to beep. _"Are you alright in there?"_ Johnson asked. _"You're all swinging about madly!"_

"Perfect; he doesn't even _see_ the ghosts on camera," Sam muttered. She dodged another attack. "We're fine, Doctor!" she shouted out. "We're kind of in the middle of a battle!"

_"A battle? But I see no one but you!"_

"The Ghosts must have made themselves invisible to the cameras!"

Jazz leaped over a shadow and shot at it. "I wouldn't mind hearing one of Danny's stupid puns right about now," she announced.

Sam slammed into a wall, crushing a shadow beneath her and sticking the thermos on top of its head while grinning. "Here's one," she said: "Try _this_ on for size, FATHEAD!" She pressed the button and sucked in the ghost by its head, causing it to shriek in pain.

Jazz giggled. "He's taught you a little _too_ much, Sam!" she replied, pointing her thermos at another ghost. "Fire in the hole!" she exclaimed, sucking in the fourth ghost. "Whoo! And I thought _my_ banters were good!"

Tucker continued to madly decipher the code to the display unit. "Would you guys shut up?" he cried out. "I can't concentrate on this while you're yelling out stupid Danny Fenton puns!"

The display unit suddenly _clicked_ and the pad beneath it turned green. Tucker gasped and pulled his hands back as the glass container over the gem rose up and turned over.

The black man stared at it in surprise and grinned. "Never mind!" he said, reaching for the gem. "I've just unlocked it—!"

_"GOOD!"_

A fist suddenly flew into Tucker's side, sending him sailing through the air and into a painting. He shouted in surprise and reached up to keep the art from falling; to his dismay, this reactivated the laser on the painting and caused it to come in contact with his body.

Immediately, the alarms rang out around the museum.

Sam and Jazz gasped and looked around them. "Are you alright, Tucker?" Sam cried out.

Tucker put the painting down. "Forget about me and _my_ luck!" he exclaimed. "Shade's about to get away with the third _Spirit Gem!"_

Sam and Jazz looked down, just in time to see the black ghost and his last accomplice reach out to grab the blue gem.

Jazz growled. "Oh, no you _don't!_" she yelled, pushing off of the ceiling and diving downward. "I am _not_ going to lose my chance at seeing my Little Brother again!"

Shade looked up at her just as he was about to grab the gem and gasped. Jazz ran directly into the two remaining ghosts, bulldozing them to the floor, where they phased through and disappeared.

Jazz jumped to her feet, just as Tucker ran to the display.

"Hurry, up, you guys!" Sam shouted. "We're about to get caught!"

Tucker pulled the ropes out of the way of the display. "Just hang on; I've got it!" he said, reaching for the gem.

To his and Jazz' complete surprise, the gem began to glow and floated up an inch or two. Tucker recoiled and stared at it in confusion.

The gem hovered silently in mid-air for several seconds; then, just as Tucker was about to reach for it again, it floated off a few ways. There, to Tucker's complete horror, it disappeared into thin air.

Tucker pulled on his beret. "IT'S GONE!" he cried out. "The third Spirit Gem is _gone!"_

"What do you mean it's gone?" Sam shouted.

Jazz looked at her. "It just disappeared into thin air!" she said.

_"What?"_

Running footsteps down the corridor and flashlights caught their attention. "Hey!" someone yelled. "Who's down there?"

"Crud!" Tucker groaned, pulling his hoodie's hood over his face. He pressed a button and was immediately pulled upwards to the skylight. Jazz did the same and followed him up.

Sam had just managed to pull them out onto the roof before the security guards came running into the expo room. They shouted out and looked about before running to the empty display at the center of the room.

Sam, Tucker and Jazz watched before sighing and dashing off.


	18. Chapter 17

Jack and Maddie were already waiting for them at the RV, where Johnson was sitting on the inside with his legs outside the open door. Sam, Tucker and Jazz rushed across the park, out of breath. Tucker removed his dark beret and replaced his favourite red one before leaning against the vehicle and clenching his teeth.

"What happened?" Maddie asked worriedly.

"We got attacked by a bunch of _ghosts_, that's what," Jazz replied. "Shade was the leader's name, and he was the one who was after Danny when he found the gems at NASA."

"We were able to trap four of them, but Shade and the fifth one got away," Sam replied, holding up her thermos.

"That's not the worst part," Tucker added as he wiped his forehead. "He landed me a good punch in the gut which sent me flying into a display. That set off the alarms, and when we went back to get the gem, it just… _floated_ up in mid air and… _disappeared!" _

"It _what?_" Jack and Maddie exclaimed.

Tucker turned and kicked the side of the RV. "We were _this_ close!" he yelled angrily. _"This_ close at finding Danny! But now we can't because the third piece is gone, and we _still_ don't know where the fourth gem is!" He placed his head in his hands and squatted down near the ground. "I can't believe it! Danny's _never_ sunk this low; why can't we do something right without him? Why can't we bring him back?"

Sam placed her hands on his shoulders. "At least we tried," she said softly, though she was having difficulty keeping in her tears. "And that's all Danny could have asked of us, Tucker. We can't expect to measure up to him. He's got ghost powers and we don't. We were at a disadvantage."

Jazz, Jack and Maddie looked on in sadness and defeat; but Johnson did not, he smiled weakly and chuckled. "Actually, Miss Manson, we are _not_ at a disadvantage," he said, catching everyone's attention. He sat up straight. "You'd be surprise what can happen in the blink of an eye."

"What are you talking about?" Jazz wondered.

Johnson grinned and looked in the van. Andy strolled out into view, stood just on the edge with his hands behind his back, and smiled at his mother and Uncle. "Don't cry, Uncle Tucker," he said. "We'll save my daddy; we really will!"

Tucker sighed heavily. "We _can't_, Andy," he said. "We just lost the third Spirit Gem."

Andy teetered on his feet. "Did you mean…" He pulled out his hands and held them out. "_This_ Spirit Gem?"

Sam, Tucker, as well as everyone else, stared at the contents of the boy's hands and gasped in shock; there, sitting peacefully and unharmed, was the blue Spirit Gem.

Tucker immediately stood up and snatched the jewel away from the boy. He held it up so that he and Sam could examine it. "I don't believe it!" Tucker gasped. "I _can't_ believe it! It's the actual gem! How is this possible?"

"Andy, where did you get this?" Sam wondered, looking at her son.

Andy shrugged and continued to teeter on his feet. "It wasn't hard," he said. "I just walked up to it and picked it up."

"But we didn't _see_ you there!" Jazz pointed out. "How did you manage to sneak by us and grab the jewel without us seeing you?"

Andy stared at her timidly until Johnson cleared his throat softly. The boy looked at the professor.

Johnson smiled encouragingly and nodded. "Go on," he said softly. "Show them."

Andy looked at him a little longer before turning and staring at his mother. He took a deep breath, stood very still and, right in front of everyone's eyes, disappeared.

_"What_ the?" Jack gasped as they all stared at the very spot Andy had been standing.

They heard a boy giggle and saw Andy appear again, this time standing on the pavement. He smiled brightly and then turned himself intangible, so that only the outline of his body could be seen. Then he turned and ran through the RV.

Tucker blinked several times quickly before rubbing his eyes. "Am I going _crazy?_" he muttered.

"Not unless we _all_ are," Jazz replied.

Johnson chuckled, just as Andy ran back through the RV and became solid again. "Andrew seems to have inherited two of Daniel's powers," he said. "Invisibility and Intangibility."

"He _what? _" Sam exclaimed, looking at her son.

"He's become heir to a little more than his father's looks, I'm afraid."

Sam walked up to Andy and knelt down in front of him. She stared at him in complete disbelief before passing a hand over the side of his face. "You're half ghost?" she whispered in shock.

Andy grinned weakly and shook his head.

"No, he's fully human," Johnson explained. "Shortly after you all left for the museum, Andy told me a secret he had known for many years now. He was worried for his mother and said that he wanted to go help get the jewel. That's when he showed me his powers, and when I saw that you were battling on the video, I decided to let him put his magic to work and sent him in to retrieve the stone before it was stolen. He's not a ghost, which is why they were not able to detect him, and why he was not harmed by the ghost shields on the displays at the museum. He's not _half_ ghost, like his father is, but a small fraction of Daniel's DNA has somehow found way into his body and has given him the ability to become invisible and intangible."

Sam listened to every word and then looked at her son again. She shook her head weakly. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" she asked.

Andy lowered his head. "I heard you say that you didn't want to have a husband who was half ghost and a baby who was half ghost," he said quietly. "You said you didn't want it because you didn't want me to be in danger like Daddy. So I thought it was better if I never told you about it."

"He's already quite adjusted to it, actually," Johnson added. "He can control his powers much easier than Daniel was able to when he first got them. Apparently, Daniel's emotions seemed to control him more than he could himself."

"That's because he was a nervous _wreck_ in school," Tucker chuckled softly, passing a hand over his face. "He was shy and hated being pressured in any way." He leaned down over Andy and rubbed the boy's head. "You're a real chip off the old block, Squirt," he said, making the boy giggle. "Literally."

"You're not mad at me, are you, Mommy?" Andy asked hopefully.

Sam blinked and smiled before holding him in her arms. "How could I get mad at you?" she asked. "You just saved the third Spirit Gem, Andy. If I'm feeling anything, it's proud. I'm _very_ proud of you."

Andy placed his arms around her neck. "So I'll get to see Daddy now?"

Tucker threw the gem up into the air and caught it again. "Even _better_," he said. "We're _all_ going to see him!" He pulled out his car keys and looked at Sam. "Let's take this to the edge of town, where we saw Danny disappear five years ago. I think it's the best place to welcome the hero!" He threw his arm into the air. "Let's go get Danny Phantom!"


	19. Chapter 18

They drove the RV to the edge of Amity Park, just missing the flock of cops that came to the museum to inspect the expo. On the way there, Jazz took it upon herself to explain the battle that had taken place. Every now and then, Sam and Tucker butted in and added something, making the story even more pleasant to Maddie, Jack and Johnson.

Bottom line, mission, despite the shock at the end, had been a success; they had the three gems they needed to open the portal properly, which meant that they were one step closer to being reunited with Danny.

They were all too pleased to be disappointed now. Nothing could ruin their moment. Not even the fact that they were still missing a gem.

Andy sat silently between his uncle and his mother, at the back of the RV, looking down at his toy Danny Phantom. After a while, Tucker had closed his eyes to enjoy the ride to their destination; Sam had placed her fingers together and played nervously with them. Andy recognized this as her anxious action; every time Sam became nervous about something in particular, which did not happen incredibly often, she played with her fingers.

Andy also noticed just then that she had put on the ring she claimed his father had given her years ago, when they were still in high school. It had a big blue pearl on it and his mother's name engraved inside. Sam twisted it nervously around her fingers and played with it.

Andy looked at the ring and then looked up at his mother. She seemed nervous yet excited all at once.

"Why are you scared, Mommy?" Andy asked softly, so that no one heard him.

Sam looked at him for a moment before staring down at her hands. "Oh, no reason in particular," she replied. "Just… your dad, I guess…"

"You're scared to meet him?"

"N-no, no. I'm just… nervous. I haven't seen him for five years. I don't know what he'll say…"

Andy looked down at his toy. "Do you think he'll still like me?" he wondered. "Even though I've got powers like him but lied about them?"

Sam looked at him in silence before Tucker chuckled softly and opened his eyes. "You guys worry _way_ too much about what Danny's going to think," he said. "He'll love you both the way you are…" He looked at Andy and winked. "Even if he's never met you before."

Andy grinned. After a moment, so did Sam.

"Danny will love you… just wait and see."

After a slight hesitation, Sam leaned over and kissed Tucker's cheek. Tucker raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked at his best friend in complete befuddlement. "What the heck was _that_ for?" he asked, having never been kissed by his best friend before.

"For everything," she replied. "And for keeping the promise you made to Danny before he left."

Tucker closed his partially gaping mouth and placed a hand on his cheek where Sam had kissed it.

Sam smiled. "Thank you, Tucker," she whispered. "For making sure we were safe."

Tucker blushed and grinned timidly. "You're welcome," he replied while looking away

Jack gently pressed down on the brake and brought the RV to a stop. "We're here," he chanted softly yet excitedly.

Jazz squealed happily and was the first to jump to the door when it opened.

Outside was the clearing that was just on the other side of the neighbourhood's park. This was the area where Danny, Sam and Tucker had grown up in. It was here where most of his ghost fights took place.

Tucker walked away from the RV a few dozen feet and stopped. He looked up at the star-filled night sky and the silver moon, took a deep breath and sighed. "This is it," he said softly. "This is the very last place we saw Danny. Right here. In this park." He turned his head and looked at Sam with a grin. "Right where we swore that oath as kids to be best friends, no matter what. It only seems like yesterday, huh, Sam? Danny was playing with blocks, we asked to play with him, and a few days later, we were playing in the park, promising never to leave each other's side."

Sam smiled at the thought as a breeze played with loose strands of her hair. "I remember," she said in a whisper.

Jazz walked up to them, carrying Tucker's shoulder bag with her. "Then let's revive those memories," she said. She held the bag out to its owner.

Tucker grabbed it and unzipped it. Inside laid the Ghost Portal that had taken him several months to create. He held up the mechanical box and looked at Sam. "This will be like the test run," he said. "What if it doesn't work?"

"What gadget have you created that didn't work, Tucker?" Sam replied. She nodded. "It'll work."

The black man took a deep breath and nodded in reply before handing the bag back to Jazz and turning around. He set the box down on the ground and pressed a few buttons on its top.

The box began to blink and hum, vibrating very weakly. Tucker stood back up and backed away. "Better stand back," he said. "Sam and I will go into the Ghost Zone once the three gems have been placed in it. The rest of you will wait out here for us."

The box vibrated more and more violently until finally, it burst open. A bright ray of light emanated from it and slowly, the image of a Ghost Portal ring faded into view. Once it had become solid, the light disappeared, and standing before them was an exact replica of Tucker's basement portal.

Jack gaped in awe while Maddie whistled lowly.

"Goodness me," Johnson muttered. "Either I am seeing a mirage, or you've actually created a portable, holographic _Ghost Portal." _

"That's got to be the best trick you've pulled so far, Tucker!" Sam said with a laugh.

"Thanks," Tucker replied. "It took a _really_ long time to figure out how to do it that way… and a lot of sic-fi books and movies to go through."

"Will it work like a real Ghost Portal?" Andy asked.

Tucker smiled back and held up a small box. "Why don't we test her out together, Short Stuff?" he said, opening it.

Inside sat the three Spirit Gems they had acquired. They glowed brightly in and out. Andy stared at them in awe before grabbing the green one that he had found at school. He looked at it and then turned his eyes on Tucker.

Tucker nodded his head to the portal and they both walked up to it. He raised the five-year-old in his arms and held him up to the symbols. "You'll have the honours of putting in the first piece, Buddy," he announced.

Andy held his jewel up and was about to place it in its socket when he stopped and reconsidered it. Worriedly, he pulled the jewel back and looked at it.

Sam walked up to them. "What's wrong, Andy?" she asked. "Don't you want to go meet your dad?"

"It's not that, Mommy," Andy replied, looking at her. He stared at his jewel and his blue eyes filled with concern. "It's just that… well, after the third rock is put in its hole, it'll open the portal and then put down a defence. The defence might be unlocking the portal from the inside. And if that happens, then Daddy can come out."

"Well, that _is_ what we're hoping."

"But because he won't have his real body, he could disintegrate in the Real World if he stays here too long." Andy's eyes filled with dread. "What if Daddy comes out and disappears because he stays out too long?"

Tucker hoisted him up and chuckled. "Don't worry, Champ; your dad's got until Sunup to stay here."

"How do you know?" Jazz wondered.

Tucker looked at her. "Ghost normally attack at night, right?" he said. "It's because it keeps their ghost energy from running out too quickly. They can come out during the day, but they can't stay out for long or else risk disappearing for good. The moon energizes them more than the sun. Only _some_ ghosts have been able to stay out longer, because they can conserve more energy better. But because Danny's half ghost, he can spend as much time in both when both halves are put back together." He looked at Andy again and grinned. "Don't worry, Andy; your dad can stay out here until sunrise without a human body. We'll have him back officially by then; I promise."

Andy seemed comforted by these words. He smiled back and nodded before holding up his green gem. He placed it over its socket and watched it get sucked into it like metal against a magnet.

Tucker put Andy down and held the box up to Sam. "Your turn," he replied.

Sam grabbed the red one and examined it before kissing it and holding it out. "This is for you, Danny," she whispered, letting it go and watching it stick in its hole.

Tucker tossed the small box aside as Sam and Andy backed away to go join the others. Tucker looked at the last gem in his hand—the triangular blue one that he had for several months now. All this time, he held a clue to bringing Danny back home; and only now did he realize how important it was.

"So it all comes down to this," he said to himself. "Just one gem left afterwards." He held it up to its slot. "Time to come home, Danny—!"

All of a sudden, the ground beneath him began to tremble, and out from beneath his feet flew several black forms. Tucker cried in surprise and stumbled backwards until he had fallen to the ground. He quickly grasped the spirit gem in his fist and held it there.

The mass of black flew up into the air and then came back down, slowly shaping a tall creature of some sort. Just as Sam and Andy helped Tucker back to his feet, the shape finished completing itself and opened two glowing red eyes.

"It's Shade!" Jazz gasped as her parents pulled out Ghost weapons and pointed it at the shadow.

Shade looked at her for a moment before glaring down at Tucker, Sam and Andy. _"I am through playing your childish games, Humans_," he said, unimpressed. _"No more of them. I came here to fetch what I need, and I will not let you stand in my way to world domination." _

Tucker pulled out his gun and pointed it at the black ghost, stepping protectively in front of Sam and her son. "You stay back!" he warned. "I won't let you harm them or anyone else here!"

"Second that notion!" Jack yelled back.

Shade narrowed his eyes. _"Idiot_," he hissed. A long streak of black stretched out like a whipe across the field and wrapped tightly around Tucker's waist. _"I don't want_ them; _I want the Spirit Gem." _

Tucker gasped in fright and cried out as he was pulled violently away from the others. He dropped his gun in the progress and nearly lost the gem as well.

"Tucker!" Sam cried out as the others rushed forward.

Tucker tried to break free from the black tail of mist before finding himself only inches away from Shade's eyes. The ghost glared at him. _"No more tricks_," Shade hissed. _"I don't know how you were able to sneak away with that gem, but although I do enjoy challenges, I do _not _appreciate irritating games of chase. I want the body, and you will hand me that jewel." _

"I'll never hand it over to you," Tucker replied. "This gem is for Danny, and I intend to insert it into the portal and fuse it into place. Once all three gems are in their slots, you can't remove them. And even if you do know Danny's location, you still don't have the fourth Gem."

_"A mere obstacle in my path_," Shade said. _"Perhaps that is true, but if_ I_ manage to insert the third jewel, it will give me the information I need to gain Daniel's powers. In fact, if it is a ghost who inserts it, they will learn of the exact location of the fourth Spirit Gem. Now, hand it to me." _

"Never," Tucker hissed. "I'm not afraid of you, and I will not let you put this Gem in."

_"Give-me-the-_jewel, _Human." _

"Over my dead body," Tucker growled back behind his teeth.

Shade narrowed his eyes as they flashed with fury. _"Luckily for you, that can be arranged_," he said. He held up a clawed hand and began reaching towards Tucker.

Tucker leaned as far back as he could when he heard Andy scream in fright. At first, no idea came to mind for an escape; if a ghost had him trapped, nothing could be reversed.

But then only one possibility dawned. And although there was a very small chance of succeeding, Tucker knew that he had no other choice. Teeth bared, he held out the blue Spirit Gem. It glowed brightly.

Shade stared at it and ceased to advance upon Tucker.

"Is _this_ what you want?" Tucker cried out. He threw his arm back and then swung it forward, tossing the Gem towards the portal. "Go _fetch_ it, Boy!"

"NO!" Shade gasped, swooping around.

The gem glistened like a falling star as it sailed through the air. It was about to pass right by the portal, but it suddenly froze in mid air, flashed brightly and then was sucked into its socket. Once it had gotten into place, all three, the green, red and blue Spirit Gems, glowed brighter and brighter, bringing the portal to life.

Tucker smiled. "It's working," he whispered.

"It's working!" Andy exclaimed happily as the wind began to swirl around them madly.

The portal made the ground vibrate more and more until the hole at its center flashed in white light. Then, following a deep _vavoom_, the swirling green doorway to the Ghost Zone twisted into view and opened.

"The Portal has opened!" Johnson shouted. "We must enter it now!"

Shade growled angrily and roared. _"No one leaves this place alive_!" he hollered. _"You have defied me, and for that you must all perish! I will not let one of you live!"_ He tightened his grasp around Tucker's waist, making the man shout painfully and try to break free. Shade glared at him furiously. _"Starting with you, Mayor_," he hissed.

Tucker frowned back. "At least you'll never find the forth stone," he hissed back.

Shade growled and held up his hand as it began to glow in red. Tucker gasped softly in shock and stared at it in terror while Sam and Andy shouted out for him. Tucker bit his lip nervously and looked up at the evil ghost.

_"You are too proud_," Shade said. _"I_ will _have his power, and nothing will stop me; least of all a meddling human like you_!" He held his arm back, ready to strike. _"May you Rest in PIECES!" _

Tucker opened his eyes wide in fear and then shut them tightly, bracing himself for the worst.

Shade smiled at this. _"Farewell, Tucker Foley_!" he shouted loudly.

_"LET HIM GO!" _

Shade stopped short of his attack and gasped softly in shock. Tucker opened his eyes and gasped as well. Like Sam, Jazz, the Fentons and Dr. Johnson, he recognized that voice. _Far_ too well.

Shade turned around and stared at the portal. Everyone else was already staring at it.

Out of it stepped a man, perhaps slightly taller than Tucker, wearing jeans, red shoes, and a white t-shirt with a red D on the front. But what everyone else noticed the most was his face, his blue eyes, and his jet black hair.

The man stood up tall and just as he had emerged fully from the portal, a glowing halo of light appeared around his waist, split into two and intersected his body. Once the haloes had passed over him completely, he had transformed into a hero no one had seen or heard from in five years: a ghost dressed in black, with white gloves and boots, a white D on his chest, glowing green eyes and snow white hair.

"You're messing with the wrong human, Shade!" the man yelled, getting into ready stance.

_"DANNY!"_ The Fentons, Sam and Johnson shouted out happily.

"Daddy," Andy whispered as a grin fell over his lips.

Shade, however, was not the least bit pleased. He clenched his teeth and his fists and glared at Danny. _"You can't be free yet_!" he yelled. _"The forth Gem is still lost!" _

Danny smiled cleverly. "It's a lot closer than you think, Pal," he replied.

_"You will not be the victor here, Danny Phantom! NOT THIS TIME!" _

Danny crouched low and his eyes glowed green. "Think again, Genius!" he shouted back. He sucked in as much air as he could, and let it all out while shouting loudly. His Ghostly Wail sent out a strong sound wave across the area, wiping over the evil ghost.

Shade shrieked in pain and covered his ears. In the progress, he dropped Tucker. Tucker cried out in fright as he fell the long way to the ground.

Danny stopped wailing and shot up into the sky. As quickly as he could, he flew towards Tucker and caught him in his arms, several inches before the mayor had hit the ground. The ghost swooped back upwards to gain air, and then flew towards the others.

"Danny!" Tucker exclaimed happily.

Danny smiled back at him and landed gracefully on his feet before letting Tucker down. There, he looked at the others before dashing towards the town. "Come on!" he shouted. "We need to get out of here before he shakes out of it!"


	20. Chapter 19

Danny led them behind an abandoned building and glued himself against the wall. Tucker, Sam, Andy, Jazz, Jack, Maddie and Johnson followed his action and hid as he did, panting loudly in the progress.

"Danny, you're finally back home!" Jazz exclaimed happily, looking at her brother.

"You don't know how much we've missed you!" Maddie added.

Danny looked at them and grinned. "If it's as bad as I've felt for the past five years, I think I've got a pretty good idea," he replied. He stared out towards the clearing. "Though you guys _really_ could have picked a better time to activate those Spirit Gems." He looked at Tucker and frowned softly. "Cutting it a little close, don't you think?"

"Hey; don't go blamin' it on _me_, Dude!" Tucker replied. _"I'm_ the one who broke into the museum to get that stupid rock!"

"Aren't heroes supposed to make it in the nick of time anyway?" Sam asked with a sly grin.

Danny looked at her. "Sure," he replied. "But not _this_ close."

"Consider yourself lucky not to have emerged too late, Daniel," Johnson announced, catching the ghost's attention. "A little longer and your friend would have been destroyed."

"Dr. _Johnson?_" Danny exclaimed. "What the heck are _you_ doing here?"

"Delivering a Spirit Gem you left behind, although I do believe that I've just gotten myself in the middle of another Danny Phantom mission."

Danny grinned. "About time you figured out who took those stones," he said.

"Why did you do it?" Tucker asked.

"Hello; to keep guys like _Shade_ from figuring out where I was?" Danny replied sardonically. "Those bling-blings were giving me a headache, so I had to separate them in order to keep _my_ location, as well as all of yours, safe." He stared up at the sky. "Though thankfully, I was able to hide them where you guys could find them. I didn't figure out that they could bring me back until just a few weeks ago, when Dr. Johnson first activated his by accident."

"The jewels told us what to do with them," Sam noted. "They told Tucker and me what had to be done."

Danny looked at her. "No they didn't," he replied. He grinned very weakly. "_I_ told you what to do with them. Once they were activated for the first time, I was able to contact you guys and give certain indications. I couldn't do it for long or else I'd waste my breath, if you get my drift."

"Ha!" Tucker exclaimed, leaning forward to see Sam. "_Told_ you it was him!"

Sam stared at him in silence before a distant _thud_ on the ground caught their attention.

Danny looked down at his feet. "Okay, he recuperated faster than I expected," he said, slightly concerned.

"He's going to tear up the town if you don't stop him, Danny!" Jazz said worriedly.

Danny looked at her. "There's one line I didn't miss," he said sarcastically. He looked down at his feet. "Do remember what situation _I'm_ in, Jazz. I just got out of a zone that I've been traveling for the past five years. Try riding a merry-go-round that long; you'll see where I'm going with that."

Sam began to lose her patience. "Danny, either you're gonna help us get rid of this guy or you can go back _in_ there!" she snapped.

Danny looked up at her and smiled amusingly. "_Woo_, I missed you too, Cupcake," he replied, making Tucker laugh.

"As much as this isn't cute, Danny, Sam _does_ have a good point," Maddie announced.

"Now's a good time for one of your plans, Son!" Jack added worriedly.

"I know, I know," Danny muttered thoughtfully, looking down at his feet. Another thud, much closer, and a few nearby shouts of fright in the neighbourhood caused him to look up again. "Dad, you, Mom and Dr. Johnson get back to the RV once I've got Shade's attention," he said. "You'll need to make sure that Ghost Portal stays open. Not that I don't want your help, or don't _need_ it, but I need to have less people as possible with me if I intend on fighting this guy properly. If I need you, I'll give you a shout."

"That's all good and well, Danny, but what about _now?"_ Maddie asked urgently. "What should we do right _now?" _

Danny looked at her. "Right now?" he echoed. "I'll tell you what we'll do right now—!"

All of a sudden, the top of the building they were hiding behind exploded. Everyone shouted in fright while Danny threw a shield over them until the rubble had stopped falling. Then, everyone looked up in terror.

Shade, now nearing the height of a forty-foot black ghost, leaned over them and growled menacingly.

Danny immediately looked at the others. "Here's what we'll do," he said, hastily pushing Tucker and Sam forward. "RUN! RUN, RUN _RUUUUNNN!" _

They immediately dashed off after him, though Sam stopped short to grab her son's hand and make sure he was near her. Shade roared angrily and stretched out his arm to grab them, but missed.

Jazz screamed and ducked, avoiding the attack. "He's growing stronger!" she exclaimed.

"That's what Shadow Ghosts _do_, Jazz," Danny replied as they continued to follow him. "They feed off of shadows and grow on energy! That's why they can last longer in daylight than any other ghost!"

"So how do we stop him?" Tucker asked.

Danny looked at him. "For now, let's just focus on getting somewhere's safe," he said. "We'll deal with Shade later." He grabbed Tucker's hand. "Form a chain, everyone!" Danny shouted out as Tucker grabbed Sam's hand and Andy grabbed his Grandmother's. "We're about to run through a wall!"

Maddie held Jack's hand, who then linked to Johnson, who finally grabbed Jazz. Once Jazz had announced that they were all linked, Danny focused his energy and turned them all intangible. With everyone shouting in fright behind him, he phased through the wall of the warehouse building they were running towards, dragging everyone along with him.

Shade stopped short of the wall and began slithering around it, looking for a way to get in without them noticing.


	21. Chapter 20

Danny released his hand from Tucker's and everyone became solid once more. Andy giggled and looked up at his mother. "It tickles when someone else does that," he whispered, making her grin.

Danny dusted himself off and looked at Tucker. "How many hours until daybreak?" he asked.

Tucker looked at his watch. "It's nearing midnight already," he said. "And the sun rises around six thirty; which is about six hours to work with."

"Six isn't a good number, especially for someone in my situation," Danny said sternly. He looked at the others. "By then, if I don't stop Shade, not only will I disappear, but he'd have grown strong enough to flatten Amity Park with his thumb."

"How do you know so much about him anyway?" Jazz wondered.

"When I was in the Ghost Zone, I bumped into Shade a few times," her brother explained. "We'd have a small battle, nothing big, but once he realized that I had lost my physical body, he stopped chasing me and entered the Real World. I didn't figure that he was after me until as of late, when the Spirit Gems were activated." He looked at Johnson. "Because my DNA fused with them, I was able to sense when they were activated in the portals, which is how I was able to locate them through the Ghost Zone and contact Sam and Tucker."

"It sounds like you've done plenty of research on your spare time," Johnson noted.

"Sometimes, I think I had _too_ much spare time."

Maddie pulled out her ghost ray gun. "Anyway, I don't feel like staying cooped up in here like a caged lion," she sighed, "So we might as well head for the RV, Jack." She looked at Danny. "Considering some folks have probably already noticed the ghost, they're going to need you, Dear. And just letting you know that I think everyone will be waiting for Danny Phantom to show up."

"What can I expect from a town that keeps ending up in jeopardy every time I have my back turned?" Danny said with a sigh. "Don't worry, Mom; I'll have him gone before sunup."

"Better work fast, Son," Jack announced. "Amity Park's not the small town you once knew." With that, he turned and dashed off, followed by Maddie and Dr. Johnson.

Danny watched them leave and looked at Tucker. "What did he mean by that?" he wondered.

Tucker shrugged. "Amity Park's a city now, Bro," he said.

"A _city?_" Danny echoed in dismay. "Please tell me you're _kidding!" _

"No kid, dude. The population grew pretty fast in five years."

"But this town's a magnet to ghosts! Why would people _move_ here?" Danny passed a hand over his face and sighed. "These people aren't making my job any easier than it already is. I don't _need_ the whole _world_ moving in."

Sam walked up to him. "We'll worry about that later on, Danny," she said. "Right now, we need to figure out what it is that Shade wants, and how to destroy him."

"There's no math to that, Sam," Danny replied. "Shade wants my powers. He wants my energy. He wants the power to control _everything_. But without my physical body, he can't get that. That's why he needs the Spirit Gems." He looked at Tucker. "Unfortunately, when you guys put the gems near each other, it caught his attention. All he needs now is to find the fourth one."

"So, he'll tear up the town until he finds it?"

"Exactly."

Jazz placed her fist in the palm of her other hand. "Then, we stop him!" she said. "Phantom Crew style! Right, Danny?"

Danny looked at her until Tucker groaned and shook his head. "But we need to find his weakness," the black man replied. "We can't stop a Shadow Ghost without knowing his weakness."

"Shade likes to feed off of the fears of others and take what is dear to them," Danny replied. "He likes to torture both humans and ghosts in that manner. He's a skilled hunter; he knows where _everyone's_ weakness is. He's studied them all."

"Does he know yours?" Jazz asked.

Danny remained silent for a moment. "I don't know yet," he whispered. "He's never defeated me, save the critical attack at NASA a few years back. But that was only because I had the Spirit Gems he was searching for. It was more out of anger that time than anything else."

"Which brings us back to the initial problem," Tucker announced impatiently. "Shade's _weakness_." He looked at Danny. "He attacked us when we broke into the museum to get the third stone, Danny. He framed me to change the code to its display unit."

"That makes sense," Danny replied while crossing his arms. "Shade's adaptable. He's learned how to perform certain powers by simply observing his prey. Which is pretty much how I learned all of my powers, except that I didn't spy on anyone…" He cracked a grin. "Most of it just happened by accident after I watched someone else do it."

Andy giggled at this. Danny looked at him for a moment but had no time to really study this newcomer to the group before Tucker continued:

"That's not all that happened, Danny," Tucker added. "Sam tried shining a ghost light on him, but—!"

"—it didn't work," Danny finished for him. He shook his head. "Shade's too powerful for that kind of light to destroy him. There's only one source of light that can destroy him, and that's the light from within."

"He mentioned that only the light within the world's most powerful ghost could destroy him," Jazz noted. She looked at Danny. "Did he mean you?"

Danny looked up at her. "He may," he replied.

"It's either he did or he didn't, Danny."

Her brother was silent for a moment before answering again. "… Yes, Jazz," he said softly. "He did mean me."

Jazz stared at him in dismay. "But how does that make any sense?" she asked in concern.

Danny paused before answering. He looked away when he did. "The light from within that I spoke of earlier," he said, "The only thing that could officially destroy Shade… is the power that I unlocked five years ago." He looked up at his sister. "The power of _Ultimate Control." _

"No!" Sam cried out, her voice echoing in the building. She grabbed Danny's hands and held them tightly in hers, catching his attention. She stared at him in fear. "You can't use that power again, Danny!" she begged him. _"Please_ don't use that again!"

"We'd need to weaken him first, Sam," Danny replied. "I won't use it right at this second…"

"But the last time you used it, you lost your human body and had to be trapped in the Ghost Zone!" Sam pointed out desperately as tears filled her eyes. "That was five _years_ ago, Danny! It'll drain all of your energy! You'll destroy yourself!"

Danny blinked a few times before smiling warmly and placing one of his hands over hers. "Not this time," he whispered. "Although five years was a long time, it gave me the chance to do some practicing. Even if that power will drain me of strength and revert me back to human form, it won't do anything worse, and considering I'm just a ghost right now, it won't even kill me." He held her hands firmly in his. "You won't lose me again, I promise."

Sam stared up at him in silence before the sound of the warehouse doors banging caught her attention. The furious roars of Shade outside resonated in the wide space around them.

Andy gasped softly and hugged Tucker's leg.

"He's trying to break in," Tucker said worriedly, kneeling down and placing his arms around the five-year-old.

Danny frowned softly and let go of Sam's hands. "He can't break in," he said. "I put up a ghost shield. If he could break through, he would have done so already." He gasped softly when his breath came out visible. Baring his teeth, he looked about. "And I've got a bad feeling that he's just called up a whole heap of Shadow Ghosts to help in attacking Amity Park," he added with a hint of concern in his voice.

"If we're going to go out there and fight, we'll need to do it now," Jazz announced, pulling out one of her weapons. "Do we have any plans, Little Brother?"

"Just keep the people safe and fire whatever you have on Shade," Danny replied.

_"That's_ the plan? What have you been doing all these years; playing _chess?" _

"Look, he's too powerful to be killed right now, Jazz! I need to wait for it to be near dawn before I can use my attack on him, so whatever Ghost weapon you guys have got, just shoot it at him! If they have an effect on me, they'll have an effect on Shade! And if you can, trap his minions in the Fenton thermoses! There's no other way to go through this!"

"Six hours of attack isn't going to be incredibly easy, Danny," Tucker announced. "It's like asking everyone to stop sleeping for a whole week."

"Maybe it won't be easy, but that's all we can do for now, Tuck," Danny replied. "I'll put up shields to protect us and give us breaks every now and then, but if I'm going to use Ultimate Control right before daybreak, I need to watch what I use on this guy." He pointed at Jazz. "And make sure communications with the Fenton RV are up, Jazz," he instructed. "Because if that Ghost Portal closes, then _I'll_ be stuck out here until I disintegrate into nothing. I need to go back through the portal I came out of if I want to survive."

Jazz nodded. "I'll contact them right now just to make sure they're fine," she said, turning away.

Danny looked at her for a moment before looking at Sam again.

Sam was staring at her hands, which had subconsciously grabbed one of Danny's again and held it dearly. She stroked the white glove that covered it, almost as if trying to remember what the material felt like.

"Sam," Danny whispered softly.

Sam did not look up, but she did reply. "I can't feel it," she whispered. "I mean, I know that I'm holding your hand, and I know that when you're holding mine, you're really holding it… But I can't _feel_it. It just feels like air has somehow magically wrapped around my fingers." She sealed her lips together and rubbed Danny's hand slightly harder than before. "I just want to _feel_ you."

"You will soon," Danny replied quietly, grabbing her chin and raising it until Sam was staring at him. He smiled. "Before the sun rises, you'll be able to feel everything you felt five years ago, Sam. I promise."

"I don't want to feel _everything_," Sam said. "I just want to feel _you." _

"You will. I'll make sure of it." Danny waited a moment before continuing. He gently rubbed Sam's chin with his thumb. "I never forgot about you," he whispered softly. "I never forgot anyone all these years, but I especially didn't forget about you." He looked down at his hands timidly before looking up at her again. "I hope… I hope you didn't forget me."

"Not for one minute," Sam whispered back, finally grinning weakly.

Danny grinned back before leaning down towards her and placing his lips against Sam's.

Sam closed her eyes and tried to imagine feeling his lips there; because of the lack of his physical body, she was, yet again, unable to sense them. But she knew they were there, and that's all that mattered at that moment.

"Hey! Break it up!"

Danny and Sam raised their heads and looked up. Tucker frowned softly at them, while Jazz and Andy had already dashed off. "Not that I'm not happy to see you two lovebirds at it again, but could you leave the mush for later?" he asked impatiently, turning on his heels and running after the two other Fentons. "Like, somewhere _safe?" _

The roof suddenly began to shake and groan. Danny gasped softly as he and Sam looked up.

"He's right," Danny muttered.

_"That's_ new," Sam replied with a grin, making Danny chuckle as they dashed off.


	22. Chapter 21

Jazz peered out into the street from the back door in the warehouse and looked around. She could hear in the distance people screaming in fright and police sirens wailing.

She and Andy waited for Tucker, Sam and Danny to arrive before the red-haired woman turned and looked at the others. "Okay; the best thing we can do is make a dash for the Town Hall Park and get into Tucker's SUV," she announced. "That way, we'll have a better chance at out running the ghosts."

"You can't out _run_ a ghost, Jazz," Tucker pointed out flatly. "You'll need to out _fly_ them."

"Fine; how do you suggest we do that?" Jazz said with an irritated frown.

Tucker smiled slyly. "With the SUV," he replied.

Jazz stared at him in confusion, but was quickly cut off when the sound of the ceiling caving in caught her attention.

Danny grabbed his sister's hand. "We'll try to understand what he's talking about later, Jasmine!" he shouted, dashing out into the street with her. "Right now, we _run!" _

Tucker, Sam and Andy immediately raced after them, just missing the rest of the building collapsing.

"Unless the location has changed, Town Hall Park is still in the same place, right?" Danny asked his sister.

"Yeah," Jazz replied.

"Good; at least I know _something_ hasn't changed."

Shade suddenly realized that they had escaped and roared angrily. Danny looked over his shoulder and watched as the creature took the shape of a large, black dragon with gleaming red eyes. It opened its mouth and shot out a bright blue orb of glowing fire.

Danny gasped and pushed Jazz to the ground, just as the ball of fire sped over their heads. Jazz screamed in fright and covered herself as Danny looked up and watched the ball explode a nearby vehicle.

He helped his sister back up. "Once we're at the SUV, you guys get in and take off," he instructed her as they all continued to run. "I'll need to take to the air. Running's not an option for me right now."

Shade growled angrily before reverting back to his original shape. _"Give me that Spirit Gem, Mayor Foley!_" he yelled loudly.

"He still thinks I've got the other gem or something!" Tucker exclaimed, looking at Sam.

Danny looked at them. "Why did he call you Mayor?" he wondered.

Tucker looked at him, but before he could answer, Jazz did the honors. "Tucker's been Mayor of Amity Park for three years now, Danny," she said with a grin.

Danny stared at her in complete disbelief before looking over his shoulder and staring in shock at his best friend. "You're _what?_" he cried out.

"You missed out on a _bunch_, Little Brother!" Jazz added as she and Sam laughed.

Danny ignored them. "You're the _mayor?_" he went on.

Tucker smiled back at him and shrugged. "You didn't expect me to sit on my butt and twiddle my thumbs while waiting for you to come back, did you?" he said. "I had to do something productive, and ran for mayor!"

Danny continued to shoot him a sceptic stare. Tucker eventually rolled his eyes. "Come on, Danny; you didn't actually think that you were the only one who could lead, did you?" he asked.

"No," Danny replied. He grinned slyly. "I just never expected you to stoop that low."

Tucker frowned in confusion.

"Politics are bloodsuckers, dude. You said so yourself."

Andy laughed hysterically while Tucker glared at his best friend. "Your humour could have stayed in the _Ghost Zone_, Danny!" Tucker shouted loudly, making the ghost laugh.

A glowing fire ball suddenly landed among them, exploding and causing them all to sail out of control in different directions while shouting in surprise. Danny somersaulted over the pavement until Tucker bowled directly into him and launched them both into a parked car. Jazz held out her arms before her and managed to soften her landing. Sam thankfully landed on nearby grass, just as Andy did as well, only a few dozen feet away from his mother.

* * *

Shade peered over a building and frowned down at them, ready to reach out for the man he believed knew the location of the last gem. But seeing Danny get to his feet and noticing Andy a few ways away caused the ghost to stop and think his choice over.

_"Wait a moment_," the ghost thought. _"That child is his, otherwise they would not resemble each other so much_." He watched as the others began to regain their feet, and suddenly, an idea came to mind. He smiled while baring his jagged teeth. _"A weakness if I ever did see one_," he said, changing preys. He shrunk down to ordinary size and stretched out like a black lightning bolt, streaking downwards to capture his bait.

* * *

Andy was busily rubbing his head from his tumble and quickly locating his figurine of Danny Phantom when he heard his Aunt Jazz gasp in horror. "Andy, LOOK OUT!" the woman screamed, pointing upwards.

Andy gasped and raised his head before turning it and looking up. He no longer saw the ghost, but he _did_ see a black streak of smoke-like substance that rapidly raced towards him.

The five-year-old tucked his toy away and got to his feet as quickly as he could. With only escape in his mind, he dashed off, trying to get away from the ghost that was rapidly approaching him.

Tucker ran towards him, just as Sam rose to her feet. "Andy, over here!" Tucker shouted urgently, reaching out for his nephew.

Andy, panting loudly, reached out for his uncle's hand, until the ghost's deep laugh caused him to turn his head and look over his shoulder. He screamed in fright and pushed his short legs as hard as he could, but within seconds, he had been trapped by the black smoke, which quickly transformed into the Shadow ghost. Shade wrapped his arms around the little boy, smiled deviously at Danny, and shot back up into the air, laughing as he did.

* * *

Danny watched the ghost shoot off like a speeding bullet, until he heard a woman scream nearby. Sam cried out in sheer horror and tried running after the ghost before coming to a stop in the street and reaching out desperately. "ANDREEEEEWWWW!" she shrieked, bursting into tears. "AAAANNNDDREEEEEWWWW!"

"MOMMYYY!" Andy cried out fearfully.

Sam sobbed and fumbled desperately for any weapon she had in her utility belt until Tucker reached her and placed his arms around her waist. Sam fought back and ordered him to let her go before reaching out for her son, whom she could clearly hear crying now. "He's taking him away! HE'S TAKING MY BABY AWAY!" Sam cried.

"Panicking won't help, Sam!" Tucker tried to calm her. "You need to focus or else we could lose Andy all together!"

Danny listened to them and had completely frozen when he heard the child scream for his mother. The word _mommy_ echoed in his mind, until he realized that the woman the boy was wailing for was _Sam. _

He felt everything in his body stop functioning for a few moments. He could not even think about how to react to this, whether it was good news or bad news—whether Sam had honestly remembered him all these years… or had actually completely _forgotten_ him. All Danny could really do was turn his head and stare in silent shock at Sam.

Sam eventually stared back at him. But she was not looking at him in fear of having a secret revealed. She was not even staring at him in shock, as though having realized that she suddenly noticed him to be standing there. No; the look she gave Danny was one of a plea. Her deep purple irises, now filled with tears that reflected the light from the moon and the street lights that were still functioning, were _begging_ Danny to do something; they were _praying desperately_ for the hero in him to react.

A moment longer of staring into her eyes told him of the situation and how grave it was. Danny's eyes glowed green as he forgot his confused thoughts, frowned boldly and crouched down low while looking up at the ghost that was escaping. "I'LL GET HIM!" he shouted, pushing off of the ground with all his might and blasting off into the sky. A strong gust of wind was left in his midst, blowing several leaves off of some nearby trees.

Sam watched him take off while covering her mouth with hands that were placed together as though in prayer. While Jazz rushed over to join them, Tucker placed a hand on Sam's shoulder and stared upwards as well.


	23. Chapter 22

Shade held onto the child tightly, proud of the prey he had captured. Andy, through crying for his mother, tried fighting back and kicked as hard as he could. "Let me go! Let me go!" the five-year-old yelled angrily.

_"Why let go of such a precious little child_?" Shade replied as he continued to fly. _"If you hold such great value to your mother, just think of the value you hold to your _father._ You're a priceless prize, little boy; you would not want to fall to your doom and disappoint your parents, would you?" _

"You're a mean ol' ghost!"

_"Yes, well, aren't we all? You'll make the perfect bait for your father. He won't dare attack me now—!"_

"You're mean _and_ dumb!" Andy scolded. "My daddy doesn't even know I'm his _son!" _

At these words, Shade's smile disappeared.

"I was born while he was in the Ghost Zone! Your plan backfired, you bad ghost!"

Shade remained silent for a moment, slightly furious with himself for not realizing that detail, and then grinned again. _"Perhaps_," he said. He held on tighter to the boy, causing him to gasp. _"But that still doesn't mean you are of no value to your mother. And I know how much _her _happiness means to Danny." _

"NO! Let me go! LET ME GO!"

Shade looked down at him as the boy fought back and growled lowly until another shout caught him off guard:

"LET HIM GO, SHADE!"

Shade looked downward. Shooting up towards him faster than anything he had ever seen do so, was the white-haired ghost that had been a thorn in his side for five years. Danny glared angrily at him as his eyes glowed green and, while baring his teeth, tossed one sphere of ghost ray energy at Shade after another.

Shade gasped and dodged all the attacks, carrying Andy along with him. He groaned painfully when one of Danny's attacks sliced his shoulder. Once it had been able to heal, he glared furiously at the ghost-man. He raised his tail and shot one red ghost ray after another at the hero.

Danny zigzagged passed them, flipped over one and stretched out his body to let another go through. Each missed shot continued on until it had hit a building, causing it to begin to crumble and sending large pieces of debris sailing into the sky.

Danny went intangible and let one last attack go through him before making his eyes glow blue and shooting ice rays from them.

_"Not his ghostly ice again_," Shade growled in frustration, dodging the attack. He yelled painfully when the tip of his tail froze in solid ice, slowing his movement down incredibly.

Danny took the opportunity to charge straight at him. He held out his fist. "You're messing with the wrong _halfghost_, you overgrown CLOUD!" he yelled before activating his ghost ray and punching Shade in the gut as he flew by.

Shade cried out in pain and finally let the boy go lose. Andy, with nowhere left to go, began the long plummet back to the ground, shouting out in fear.

Danny stopped flying and gasped before diving head first downwards. "HANG ON, KID!" he cried out.

* * *

Andy screamed in terror watching the ground rush up to him. The wind whistled in his ears, his black hair was pulled furiously back by the cold air, and giant pieces of crumbling buildings littered the space left between him and the ground. Either he would be crushed upon impact with the ground, or smacked silly by a building.

Danny dodged a flying piece of a brick wall, pushed against it and propelled him forwards faster than before, determined to catch the child before impact.

Andy would have rejoiced if he saw his own father and his hero rush towards him. But at the moment, he was concerning himself about how to evade at least _one_ of the horrible death choices he had; and that was passing the crumbling pieces of brick walls, steel plates and glass.

Only one solution came to him. Andy quickly shut his eyes tightly, focused all of his energy until his entire body turned intangible and phased harmlessly through a giant piece of a wall that rushed towards him.

Danny had noticed the boy's stunt, and immediately raised his eyebrows in surprise and gasped softly. After dodging the same piece of debris that the child phased through, he continued to watch in utter disbelief as the child held onto intangibility and sailed through every possible threat to his life, save the ground that was quickly gaining upon them.

_He's… got ghost powers_? Danny thought. _But I didn't sense him. How's that possible? _

After nearly running into a steel plate because of his thoughts, Danny returned to the moment at hand, frowned boldly and flew downward towards the child, holding out his arms. Turning his body intangible in order to properly grab the boy, he passed through every piece of debris without gaining a scratch. A few short seconds before impacting with the pavement on the street below, Danny caught Andy in his arms and sailed back upwards, just evading having his suit scrape against the ground.

When he turned solid again, so did the child. Andy, arms folded tightly at his sides, hands closed in fists and his eyes tightly shut, had safely evaded certain death.

Danny looked at him as he slowed down. "Are you okay?" he asked gently.

Andy cautiously opened his eyes and stared up at him. It was at that moment that Danny suddenly noticed the similarities between him and the boy. His piercing blue eyes said everything.

Danny stared at him in silence for a moment or two, wondering why he was staring at _himself_, and wondering how this child had been given ghost powers without giving off a ghost scent.

Andy stared at him in silence, his hair fluttering in the wind, before he smiled through his tears and immediately wrapped his arms around Danny's neck. He shut his eyes tightly and buried his face in the man's black jumpsuit, still startled by the sudden close shave yet overjoyed to finally be in the arms of the one person he had wanted to be held by for five years.

Danny was taken aback by this action, still not completely sure of what to understand. But after a moment, he gently wrapped his arms around the boy more securely before finally turning back towards the ground to land.


	24. Chapter 23

Sam was the first to rush to them when Danny landed gracefully and soundlessly on his feet. Tucker and Jazz, after having watched the spectacular save, rushed after Sam.

Danny took one more look at the boy before Sam had reached him. Then, the ghost gently handed Andy back to his mother. "Here," was all he could say, not knowing what else would be helpful in such a confusing moment.

"Mommy!" Andy exclaimed, reaching for his mother as Sam held him tightly in her arms.

"Oh, Andy, I was so scared!" Sam cried, rocking her son while showering him with kisses.

Tucker grinned at their little reunion before walking up to Danny. He had noticed the confused and slightly concerned look in his best friend's eyes.

Danny stared at Sam and Andy silently, all the while nervously rubbing his arm. Tucker stopped beside him and looked on. "Cute, isn't it?" he said softly. "Sam softened up a bit after Andy was born."

Danny did not look at him. He continued to stare in silence at the mother and son, still lost in his thoughts.

Tucker looked at him. "You okay, Danny?" he asked.

Danny looked at him for a split second before staring at Sam once more. "Y-yeah," he replied very quietly. "I'm just… confused, I guess. At a loss for words."

Tucker nodded gently before watching Jazz reach out and hug her nephew.

"It was weird," Danny muttered, catching Tucker's attention again. "But I could have sworn… that that kid went… _intangible_…"

Tucker grinned. "Things _have_ changed, Danny," he said softly.

Danny looked at him again, wondering what he meant, until a nearby explosion caused the ground to vibrate. Everyone, even Andy, looked up in the same direction, when people began to scream.

Danny turned. "Get them to the SUV, Tucker," he said sternly, brushing his confusion aside for the time being. "I've got a bad feeling that the whole town's awake now, so I need to get out there ASAP." He looked at his best friend. "What time is it?"

Tucker looked down at his watch. "Nearing two o'clock," he replied. "Time flies when you've got a deadline."

"Don't remind me," Danny agreed. He crouched low and looked upwards. "Make sure to keep the others safe, Tuck," he instructed. "If I need back up, I'll let you know—!"

"—Danny."

Danny stopped himself from leaping into the air and turned to look at Tucker. The black man held out his fist.

Danny stood up straight and stared at it in silence, before memories flooded back into his mind. He smiled, held up his own fist, and smacked it against Tucker's before they grasped each other's hands.

"I thought you almost forgot it, Bro," Tucker whispered with a grin.

Danny smiled back at him. "Never can do, dude," he replied. He let go of Tucker's hand and jogged off. He pointed at Tucker. "I didn't forget your promise," he added. "If you haven't changed, buy me a Nasty Burger in the morning! Five years without eating any human food, I'm starving!"

"Bet on it, Phantom!" Tucker shouted back, watching Danny turned and fly up into the air.

Jazz, Sam and Andy ran over to him while watching the ghost disappear over the rooftops. Tucker waited a moment before looking at them and holding up his keys. "Come on," he said. "We need to follow him in the SUV."

"Could I ask what you meant earlier about out _flying_ a ghost in your _Sports Utility Vehicle,_ Tucker?" Jazz wondered again.

Tucker smiled slyly at her. "Jazz, my dear," he said while bowing, "Didn't you know that I _love_ to mystify you people with my genius?"

Jazz raised an eyebrow while Andy laughed.


	25. Chapter 24

Danny flew over the city invisibly, scanning the area for any signs of the shadow ghosts; though at the same time, he found himself re-familiarizing himself with the surroundings.

Five years. That was how long Danny had waited to return home. Five years. That was how long he had traveled and explored the Ghost Zone. Five years. That was how long he had to practice his powers to perfection. Five _years._

That was how long he had to wait before seeing his family and his friends again, face to face, and hold their hands in his, and hear their voices in his ears.

"Although it's grown, at least _most_ of it still looks the same," Danny noted, looking over his once home-town, now a city. "Why people would want to move here or keep their families here, I have _no idea_. If not for who I am, I probably would have taken my wife and kids and vamoosed."

Wife and kids. Those words suddenly stuck in his mind. Sam was the only one he wanted to spend his life with, that was for sure. No other woman, even the girls he had had a crush on in high school, were not nearly as precious to him as Sam was. She understood him, always backed him up, knew exactly what to say to bring him down to Earth, and always supported him. Even when she was upset with him, she was always loyal.

The perfect to-be wife.

But then there was Andy. Her son. The boy Danny had just rescued. Confusion filled Danny's mind again, confusion and mystery; how did he come to be? Who was the father? Why did he resemble Danny so much? Had Danny actually seen this boy go intangible, right before his eyes, and evade being crushed by flying debris? Or had his stay in the Ghost Zone made his eyes play tricks on him?

Though his mind told him that Sam had probably gotten tired of waiting for him, his heart said otherwise. And for the time being, Danny just had to trust what the latter told him. It was this part of him that had kept him and his physical body alive and well in the ghost Zone, after all.

_I'll… just ask her when everything's over_, he thought. _For now, I need to save Amity Park, keep that Ghost Portal open, and protect Tucker, Jazz, Sam and her son. If that kid means a lot to her, than he's obviously important. _

Deep down inside, in fact, Danny found that the boy meant a lot to him as well.

He flew over the tallest building in the city and was suddenly taken off guard by an attack. He gasped and quickly dodged it, noticing how it had come from above him. When he looked up, he saw at least a dozen shadow ghosts, throwing one attack after another down to the streets that were now crowded with panicking people. Loud sirens whined throughout Amity Park, announcing another Ghost Attack.

Luckily, he was invisible, so no one, not even the attacking ghosts, could see him.

"Geez, you'd think that after all these years, people would understand that standing in the streets during an attack in the _middle_ of the _night_ is a serious _no-no_," Danny groaned, slapping his forehead.

Another attack flew by him, missing him by a few inches. This one exploded against a giant billboard, which sparked a few times before groaning and beginning to fall, directly over dozens of citizens.

_"That's_ one reason why towns are better than cities!" Danny exclaimed. He turned into a dive and became visible again. "Time for Danny Phantom to make his five-year-waiting _entrance!" _

The people screamed in fright and tried to evade the falling billboard, all the while covering their heads. Children cried, people ran into each other, but because there were so many citizens, no one would be able to escape being crushed by the billboard…

… That is, if it had not been for Amity Park's hero.

Danny dodged more attacks headed in his direction—the shadows noticed him now and were trying to stop him from rescuing the people. He reached his arms out before him as far as they could go, flew as fast as he could and, just feet before squishing the people, grabbed hold of the billboard and stopped it in its tracks.

The people immediately ceased crying in fear and looked up in shock. Danny groaned and pulled back on the billboard as hard as he could. "_Man_, five years without a workout like this can _really_ give you back problems!" he said to himself behind his teeth.

The city looked on as the billboard rose itself back upwards, until they noticed the person pulling it back. Immediately, starting with those most familiar with him, the people jumped into the air and cheered.

Danny set the billboard down on the roof of the building it had been standing on and wiped his forehead. "Whoo; after this night's done, I'm taking a long shower, eating fifty hot dogs and sleeping for six _weeks_," he said. "I _seriously_ need to regain my energy…"

His voice suddenly died away as the cheers in the streets below overpowered his voice. Danny raised his head and then slowly turned around to look over the side of the building at the mass of humans down below. They were all cheering, almost as though they had not expected to see him ever again. People whistled, children jumped, adults threw their hands into the air.

Danny stared at them in silent wonder, before finally cracking a grin and raising a hand to wave back. Although he had never been a fan of standing in front of several people, he was touched to know that, even after five years of absence, his home town had not forgotten its hero.

"DANNY! DANNY! DANNY!" people chanted, in unison.

Danny smiled a little more, but was suddenly taken off guard when a purple ghost ray exploded at his feet, crumbling the side of the building. He gasped and jumped back before looking upwards.

Dozens of Shadow Ghosts were staring down at him, glaring angrily. Among them, several feet larger, was Shade.

Danny got into ready stance as the people down below began panicking again. He bared his teeth. "This town never did anything to you, Shade!" he yelled. "This is between you and me; let's take this fight somewhere else before you hurt innocent people!"

Shade narrowed his eyes. _"I'd rather settle matters here_," he said. _"In your zone." _

"You're going to hurt someone!"

_"If it means weakening your spirit, then I don't_ care!" Shade growled back. _"Humans are a thorn in every ghost's side. They were the ones who trapped you in the Ghost Zone, Danny Phantom! The Ghost Keeper, remember_? He _was once a human! This town deserves to perish!" _

"I won't let you destroy Amity Park!" Danny shouted. "I may not have been able to protect it in the past five years, but that doesn't mean that I can't still do it!"

_"By protecting humans, you forfeit your afterlife, you fool! I will turn this town upside down to find that last gem! I will not stop until I find it! Your powers are as good as mine!" _

Danny floated upwards and created two orbs of ecto-plasmic energy around his hands. He glared at the Shadow Ghost before him. "If you want that gem, you'll have to go through _me_ first!" he said. "And just like the other times, I will _not_ be so easily defeated!"

Shade smiled like a wolf. _"So be it!"_ he said. He pointed at Danny. _"DESTROY HIM!" _

The smaller Shadow Ghosts hissed loudly and began tossing one attack after another at Danny. Danny threw a few back at them and then pulled a ghost shield over his body; unfortunately, he had decided to put it up only a few second too late. A ghost ray slammed into his chest and propelled Danny backwards towards the ground.

People scrambled out of the way as Danny impacted in the paved street and slid a few dozen feet before coming to a stop in front of a street lamp. The lamp creaked and bent over slightly when Danny crashed into it, but luckily, it was not enough to snap it in two.

Danny moaned painfully and slowly sat up while cradling his head. He was just about to raise himself to his feet when he suddenly noticed that his hands became slightly transparent. He gasped in shock and stared at them until they returned to normal.

He sighed of relief until he heard Shade laugh. Danny raised his head and looked upwards.

_"You are weakening, Danny_," Shade mocked. _"With every passing minute that brings us closer to dawn, you are losing your spiritual half. While I am simply growing stronger!"_ He laughed again.

Danny got to his feet. "Obviously, you haven't noticed that I'm not about to back out of a fight that easily," he said.

_"To be honest, I was hoping you wouldn't_," Shade said. He transformed into a black dragon again. _"Because then, I wouldn't be able to personally_ vaporize _you!" _

He took a deep breath and blew out green flames. Danny immediately dashed out of the way as the flames landed where he had once been standing. People cried in fright and jumped to safety.

Danny skidded around a building and then ran as fast as he could down the street. The black dragon overhead roared ferociously and breathed more green fire, tracing it down the path Danny was taking.

Danny looked over his shoulder before jumping onto a car, leaping onto a crashed city bus from there, and diving over an overpass, flipping once, before grabbing a nearby street pole and riding it down to the ground again. All this time, Shade's fire continued to chase him.

"Good thing I'm still a ghost without any human body," he muttered. "I can't get tired when I run."

His hands suddenly turned transparent again before fading back into view. Danny looked at them for a moment, wondering what he could do to stop them from doing that, and then flipped to one side as a shadow ghost tossed a trash can at him.

He slapped his forehead. "Who am I kidding?" Danny scolded himself. "I'm a _ghost_! I can fly, for Pete's sake!" He jumped onto the wall of a building, Shade's fire once more on his trail, and ran up it until he had reached the top. There, he leaped off, just missing the tips of the green flames, and shot off into the sky.

Shade roared, and immediately, all the other Shadow Ghosts raced after him.

Danny looked over his shoulder and gasped. "Well, at least I've got their _attention_!" he said, noticing that every single one of Shade's minions were on his tail. He made a sharp turn to his right, tucked his arms at his sides and led the Shadow Ghosts on a chase. From afar, it looked like a figure haloed in a thin white glow was being chased by a long trail of black smoke.

Danny twisted around a radio tower, scaled skyscrapers, phased through vehicles and dove into the lake, trying to gain air between him and the black ghosts. It took a large amount of time for him to achieve the needed distance, and once he had, Danny swooped around, made his fists glow green and charged for the Shadow Ghosts while shouting.

_BLAM!_ He bored straight through the black mass, lighting it with rods of green energy until he had reached its end and flew out of it. The Shadows shrieked in pain and exploded into millions of small dust particles.

Danny panted before shaking the glow off of his hands and staring at them again. Once more, they faded out and back into solid body parts.

He rubbed his hands together and looked about. _I need to find out what time it is_, he thought. _Where's that stupid clock tower when you need it? _

A low growl coming from the area he had just come from caused him to look in its direction. There, he saw that, all the particles which had once been part of dozens of Shadow Ghosts, suddenly began to glow green and joined together. They formed a giant black sphere over the very place Danny had destroyed them, and then multiplied into _hundreds_ of small shadows, each with glowing red eyes. They all smiled deviously at Danny.

Danny stared at them in disbelief before slapping his forehead. "Ultimate Control is the only thing that can _stop_ Shade from creating anything more, Danny," he scolded himself behind his teeth. "You're the one who told the others that, for cryin' out loud."

Shade, now in his original form, floated up into the air a few dozen feet away from Danny. _"You are running out of time, Daniel_," he said. _"The sun will be rising soon. If you plan on destroying me, you may as well start now." _

Danny bared his teeth and tossed his hand back to throw a ghost ray at them. But to his shock, his entire body went transparent for a moment and began fading away. He gasped and focused all of his energy to bring himself back. Thankfully, it worked.

Shade threw his head back and laughed. _"Your deadline draws nearer, Danny Phantom_!" he shouted. _"Even your energy storing will not be enough to keep you alive_!" He held up a fist. _"And once you disappear, finding that gem will be all too easy, and gaining your powers will be even_ easier! _I planned on destroying your physical body before your spirit, but this way works all the same!" _

"You'll never get neither, Shade," Danny growled. "Just because I'm running out of time, it doesn't mean that I still can't use my powers on you."

_"Perhaps not, but you already know that your Ghost Ray has no effect on my minions or me. So why bother to fight?" _

"Because I won't go down the _loser_!" Danny yelled. "And if I do, I refuse to go down as the _coward!" _

Shade narrowed his eyes. _"So be it_," he said. _"Then you shall go down as the_ fool."

His shadows growled loudly and raced across the sky until they had reached Danny. They grabbed a hold of him, any way necessary. Danny managed to fight and throw a few back, but they quickly outnumbered him and began forming a black trap around him. He struggled to break free, but the pressure became too over powering. He groaned painfully.

_"Once the trap is complete, they will crush you_," Shade explained as his minions continued to pile up around Danny. _"And not even you will be able to return from that." _

Danny tried pulling himself free again before glaring furiously at the Shadow Ghost. "You'll _never_ take me," he hissed, only seconds before the other shadows covered him completely from view.

Shade smiled darkly. _"I believe I just did_," he said. He raised an arm. _"Farewell, Danny Phantom—!"_

_PTCHOO! PITCHOO! _

Shade gasped in shock as two giant blue orbs of ect-plasmic energy soared down towards them and exploded against the giant black egg. Blue streaks of lightning spread over it, making all of the Shadow Ghosts shriek in pain and disperse. Once again free, Danny gasped for air, clutched his right shoulder, and looked about, slightly startled that he had not been harmed by the attack.

_"Impossible_!" Shade growled, looking about. _"Who dares to interrupt my moment of triumph?" _

"WE DARE!"

Danny looked upwards, just as Shade did, and raised his eyebrows in surprise. Soaring down from the sky came a speeder-like ship, silver, with three rocket boosters at its rear. It was the size of an SUV. After a moment, Danny suddenly realized that the vehicle even _looked_ like a silver SUV.

The ship swooped down and out from its belly emerged two giant gun barrels. It shot several blue energy orbs at the black ghost, and although Shade was only pushed back a few feet with every impact, it did cause him to groan loudly in pain.

Danny, still holding onto his sore shoulder, looked on until the SUV-like ship floated down beside him. He looked at it as the dark passenger window rolled down.

Sam was sitting on the other side. She smiled at Danny, just as Tucker leaned over from the driver's seat. "Hey, Danny!" the black man said cheerfully as Jazz and Andy stuck their heads into view and waved back.

Danny stared at them in shock. "How the _heck_ did you guys get up here?" he asked.

Sam pointed at Tucker. "Turns out that his SUV is actually a Speeder," she said. "Equipped with the same ghost weapons your parents' RV has."

"Plus, it comes with a bonus GPS feature," Tucker added: "The DP-Finder. Pretty slick, huh?"

Danny grinned wryly. "I'm afraid to admit that you've got _way_ too much free time on your hands, dude," he said with a laugh.

"I had to do something to keep myself busy while not in the office or trying to locate your body."

Shade finally recovered from the blasts fired at him and roared loudly. Danny looked up at him and frowned. "Considering you guys are up here, you might as well continue to back me up," he said. "Are Mom, Dad and Dr. Johnson safe?"

"They were attacked earlier by a few shadow ghosts, but they've been able to keep things under control from their end," Jazz replied.

"As long as the portal's still open. Tucker, this SUV wouldn't happen to have a ghost shield, would it?"

Tucker shook his head. "Haven't had time to add one yet," he said. He grinned slyly. "But it _does_ have something that they don't have, and when I say that, I mean it to your advantage."

Danny looked at his best friend again. "Would that have something to do with the attack you shot at them earlier?" he wondered. "And why it didn't effect me?"

Sam held up a flat device that looked incredibly familiar to Danny. "You remember that Ghost Zapper Tucker designed for the battle against the Ghost Keeper five summers ago?" she said.

Danny stared at the disc and finally cracked a grin. He looked at Tucker again. "You made _ghost rays_ out if too?" he asked, totally enthralled.

"I needed _something_ that no one else had," Tucker replied with a shrug.

"Tucker, that's _brilliant!" _

"Why, thank you—!"

A purple ghost ray suddenly blasted right passed them, nearly sending the SUV out of control. Everyone shouted in surprise as the car was rocked to one side.

Danny floated back a few feet before staring at Shade again. "Okay, back to business," he said. "We need to weaken him as much as we can until we get near enough to sunrise. So our best bet is to get rid of his minions, but unfortunately, _they_ can't be officially destroyed by anything except Ultimate Control either."

"Then, we'll just have to find a way to slow them down for now," Sam announced. "Let's Get this party started!"


	26. Chapter 25

While Danny swooped to one side, Tucker turned the SUV into the opposite direction. Both barely missed yet another attack from Shade.

Danny flew around the giant Shadow Ghost and headed for the hundreds of smaller ones. Upon noticing him, they all turned and hissed at Danny, but before they could attack, Tucker's SUV shot giant blue bubbles of ecto-plasmic energy. The light lit up the sky for a few seconds as it exploded and propelled the Shadows back while screaming in pain.

Danny shot a few ghost rays of his own, yet was eventually forced to continue by physical combat, due to the fact that every time he used his ghost ray, his hands and even his arms would fade out and back into view.

They battled for long minutes before Danny realized that all their attacks were doing was causing the minions to multiply. When he looked at the SUV, he noticed it turn and fly away from the dark cloud, almost as if it too knew of what was happening.

"We're not damaging them; we're making them _stronger_," Danny said to himself while rubbing his right wrist. "I can't use my Ultimate Control just yet; it wouldn't destroy them all. I need to weaken the little pests before I can use that. But how?"

The Shadow Ghosts began to fly in circles around Danny, coming in closer and closer with every twist. Danny gasped softly and looked about, sometimes kicking or punching a shadow ghost away from him, sending it flying with a shriek.

Tucker's SUV stopped just on the outside of the ghosts. The driver's window rolled down and Tucker's face came into view. "Danny, you need to get out of there!" he shouted. "They'll cage you in again, and with this many, I don't think my attacks will separate them!"

_Don't I know that_, Danny thought. He turned in one direction and flew towards it, ready to blast through; but to his complete surprise, the cage of ghosts that had surrounded him had actually… _trapped_ him in as well. Danny crashed against the shadows with a painful shout and was thrown backwards into another section of the egg. Again, he shouted in pain and was thrown forward. This time, he slowed himself down and backed away from the edges while rubbing his side.

"Danny, get out!" Tucker shouted worriedly.

Danny looked at him. "I _can't_, Tucker!" he called back. He looked at the ghosts around him that had begun to close in some more. "They've created some type of shield that I can't break through! They're just moving too quickly! I can't even _phase_ through them!"

"You need to try _something!" _

"I'm open to suggestions, Tucker!"

Tucker looked on in fear until the window behind him rolled down. Out leaned Andy. The five-year-old stuck his upper body out of the window and placed a hand around his mouth. "USE YOUR GHOSTLY ICE!" he cried out as loud as he could.

Danny, after another moment of studying the ever shrinking cage of Shadow Ghosts, turned his head and looked at the boy.

Andy hugged himself and then spread out his arms. "You gotta release the cold energy inside!" he shouted. "Remember when you saved me? You froze the ghost's tail and it slowed him down! If you freeze these guys, they'll slow down and you'll break through! Use your ghostly ICE!"

Danny stared at him in silence as he spoke, and then wondered how this boy knew all of his attacks inside and out. He took a moment to study him one second longer, still confused as to why he resembled him so much, and then finally realized that the boy had just found the solution.

Danny crouched and frowned at the cage of ghosts around him. "Tucker, back the SUV up!" he shouted as his eyes began to glow blue. "I'm about to start an ice storm!"

Tucker immediately put the car into reverse and backed away as fast as he could. Danny watched him leave before turning away, closing his eyes and concentrating on the cold energy he had stored within him. Gradually, he began to glow blue. The light grew brighter and brighter and brighter, until it had reached its capacity. Then, Danny clenched his teeth, squeezed himself into a tight ball and then spread out his arms and legs while shouting, releasing the cold energy in one giant attack.

_KAVLAM!_ Ice spread over the entire egg of Shadow Ghosts, causing them to shriek in pain and completely come to a stop. Danny smiled cleverly and tried once more to escape. This time, he succeeded, and the egg of shadows exploded into oblivion.

Shade roared angrily from where he was hovering and clenched his fists. _"You will pay for that dearly, Daniel! _" he growled.

Danny dusted himself off and smiled in reply as snowflakes fell all around him.


	27. Chapter 26

Tucker, Sam, Jazz and Andy cheered from the inside of the vehicle as Danny broke through and then turned to look at the five-year-old. "That was a great idea, Andy!" Tucker laughed as Jazz hugged her nephew. "You're a great addition to the team!"

Andy smiled proudly until he noticed something black headed their way. When he looked through the windshield again, he recognized it to be a giant black dragon.

He gasped and pointed ahead. "The big bad ghost is comin' to get us!" he shouted, catching everyone's attention.

Tucker shouted in fright and immediately put the car into drive and stepped on the gas. He managed to turn away only moments before Shade would have crashed into them.

The ghost growled loudly. _"You are becoming a nuisance, Mayor!_" he yelled. _"You _and _Daniel's family! So I will make you PAY for it!" _

"Great; now he's _back_ to chasing me!" Tucker groaned. He stepped on the gas as hard as he could and the car blasted off across the sky, Shade right on its tail.

Andy looked through the back window at the giant dragon that was gaining on them. He looked at Sam. "Mommy, he's gonna gobble us up!" he cried fearfully.

"Tucker, can't this thing turn invisible or something?" Sam exclaimed as Tucker dodged attacks being thrown at him by the ghost.

"Even if it did, does it _look_ like I can do that right now?" Tucker cried back. "His attacks are too fast, too strong! I'd never have the chance to change it invisible without crashing into something or being hit!"

Andy stared at his uncle for a minute before looking at the dragon again.

Shade opened his large mouth and roared, but just as he did, Danny rammed into the ghost's side and tossed it over. The dragon groaned painfully.

Andy gasped softly and watched as Danny attempted to freeze the giant ghost with ice rays from his eyes. But to his dismay, Shade was simply too powerful. The dragon simply turned over and swatted Danny with its tail, sending the ghost flying out of control. Then, Shade was back up and chasing the SUV.

"Danny's not attacking as hard anymore," Sam said worriedly, as the others watched as well.

Tucker stepped on the gas and drove off. "I don't know why, but right now, that's not my concern," he replied in frustration. "Buckle in, guys; this is about to get incredibly difficult!"

He turned in giant loops, made sharp turns between buildings and tried everything else in his power to evade the speeding dragon ghost. But Tucker's SUV simply was not fast enough to out fly it.

"Tucker, he's going to eat us!" Jazz screamed.

"I KNOW, I KNOW!" Tucker yelled back, dodging another building. "If only I could find some way to hide from him!"

Andy stared at him in silence before frowning boldly. He had never attempted to turn anything larger than himself invisible before, but if it meant to save his family, then he had to try.

He reached over and placed his hands on the dashboard between Tucker and Sam. Andy shut his eyes tightly, clenched his teeth and focused on what he wanted to be done.

Tucker and Sam stared at him before looking at the dashboard and gasping. Slowly, the entire vehicle became transparent, as well as their bodies.

Andy groaned at the effort and did not even let go when the vehicle had completely gone invisible.

Shade suddenly stopped in his tracks and stared about in complete surprise and confusion.

Jazz looked at him. "He's not chasing us anymore," she said.

Tucker looked at Andy. "That's because he can't chase what he can't _see_," he said.

* * *

After recovering from the tail whip that had thrown him out of control, Danny had taken chase after the dragon. He saw Tucker attempt to evade it, but what had truly caught his attention was when the entire vehicle turned invisible.

Danny gasped and slowed to a stop. "What the?" he said in shock. "There's no way Tucker could have given the car invisibility; that's impossible, and even if it had a cloaking device, I'd still be able to see it's outline or shape. So how did he do that?"

Not even a moment of thought had passed before Danny suddenly realized the truth. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Andy?" he whispered.

Shade continued to search the air for the SUV. Danny remained where he was until he saw a small glint of metal headed towards him. Following that, the entire SUV reappeared, though thankfully, it was far enough from Shade that the ghost could not see it.

* * *

Andy released his power over the car once he figured that they were safe for the time being. The entire car and its passengers returned to normal, and the five-year-old sighed of exhaustion before releasing his hands and collapsing on the floor between the two front seats.

"Andy!" Sam gasped, reached down to pick her son up.

"Are you okay, Andy?" Tucker asked worriedly.

Andy placed his hands on his mother's arms for support and nodded. "Uh-huh," he said. "But I feel a little dizzy."

"That's what you get for turning a whole _car_ invisible," Jazz muttered with a sly grin. "Though I'm pretty sure your dad would have done the same thing."

Andy grinned timidly at her until Tucker stopped the car and opened his window.

Danny placed his hands on the door and peered inside. "Your car didn't do that on its own, did it?" he said, looking at Tucker. He turned his eyes and looked at Andy. "You did that, didn't you?"

Andy stared at him in silence, not knowing if Danny was upset or relieved.

After a moment, he realized that Danny was neither; if the ghost was anything, he was confused, as if still trying to understand how it was possible.

Andy did not know how long the two of them stared at each other in silence. After a moment, Andy finally cracked a weak grin, hoping it would release them from the silence.

Danny blinked a few times before slowly, his lips began to form a grin of his own.

But before they could, a purple ghost ray collided into him, sending the ghost flying. Tucker covered his face and leaned back before unbuckling his seatbelt and leaning out of the window. "DANNY!" he shouted.

"Is he hurt?" Sam exclaimed worriedly, leaning towards him while Jazz and Andy opened the back window.

"I'm not sure; I can't see him!"


	28. Chapter 27

Danny sailed backwards out of control and contorted in pain as the energy rods wrapped around his body like snakes. He screamed painfully before the attack had died away. For a moment, he floated limply in the air, trying to regain his strength, but when he raised a hand to his head, he discovered that it had once again, faded away, this time disappearing completely.

Danny gasped and clenched his teeth as he groaned at the effort of bringing himself back. Once his entire body had become visible once more, he sighed tiredly and wiped his forehead.

_I've gotta get Shade far enough for me to actually be able to regain enough energy_, he thought. _But how? _

He remembered how Andy had given him the idea of using his Ghostly Ice. Danny rubbed his chin and looked up at Shade as the dragon roared angrily. "What if I thought like a kid again?" Danny said aloud. "Like I used to when I was fourteen? What would I have thought of doing?"

The solution suddenly came to mind. He gasped softly and grinned. "I'd pretend to be in two places at _once_!" he said. Closing his eyes tightly and concentrating as hard as he could, Danny focused his energy on splitting himself in two. He knew that it would take a bit of his strength, but if it allowed him to get to the Ghost Portal while distracting Shade long enough, then that was all that mattered. He could call back his second half later.

His body glowed for a split second before he was finally able to create a duplicate of himself. The duplicate opened his eyes and looked at Danny.

Danny pointed at Shade. "Get him to chase you to the other end of Amity Park," he instructed. "Once I get to the Ghost Portal, I'll call you back."

The duplicate smiled boldly and gave the thumbs up before turning and flying towards Shade. Danny made himself invisible and watched as Shade fell for his trick and flew off, chasing Danny's duplicate to the other end of the city.

Once he was sure to be safe, Danny became visible again and sighed of relief.

The silver SUV flew up to him on his right, and Tucker opened his window. "You okay?" he asked as the backseat window opened up.

Andy stuck his head out. "That was so _cool!_" he exclaimed, catching both Danny and Tucker's attention. "You duplicated yourself, and the bad guy _fell_ for it! It's just like all the stories Uncle Tucker told me!"

Danny looked at the boy for a moment and then gave a confused look at Tucker. _"Uncle?_" he echoed.

"Long story," Tucker replied with a weak grin. "About five _years_ long."

Danny rubbed his forehead and looked in the direction that Shade had flown off in. "I'll have to hear it later," he said. "Right now, we need to get back to the Ghost Portal in the park—!"

Jazz gasped. "Danny, you're fading!" she said as the others stared at him in shock.

Danny looked at himself and noticed that once again, his entire body was becoming transparent. He focused his energy and made himself visible again before sighing tiredly once more and rubbing his forehead.

"Danny, what's wrong?" Sam asked worriedly.

Danny looked at them. "Tucker, what time is it?" he asked.

Tucker looked at his watch. "About ten to six," he said.

Danny looked to the east worriedly. "I'm running out of time," he said. "If I don't destroy him now, it'll be too late."

"Why did you fade out like that?"

"My ghost half is beginning to disappear, Tucker. The more I use my abilities, the worse it is. I need to get back into that Ghost Portal before sunrise, or else I'll disintegrate." Danny looked at his best friend. "But if I go back now, without activating the last gem, it'll be too easy for Shade to find my body and destroy it."

"So then, what should we do?" Tucker asked worriedly.

Danny pointed in the direction of the park. "We get to the portal," he said.

"But Shade will eventually figure out that your duplicate isn't actually _you_! He'll come and chase us!"

"I know, but if I'm going to destroy him, I need a lot of space." Danny turned his legs into a tail and flew off towards the park. "Time to move it!"

Tucker closed his window and immediately flew after him.

* * *

Maddie, Jack and Dr. Johnson were waiting impatiently for the Phantom Crew to return. They knew that sunrise was less than thirty minutes away. If Danny did not destroy his foe in time, then there would be no more hope of ever bringing him back home.

Johnson was now leaning against the Fenton RV, regaining his energy. He had just finished helping the Fentons defend the portal. It was the very first time he had ever held such a powerful weapon before, and although he had been glad to be of assistance to the ghost hunters, he was glad the entire ordeal was over; the ghosts had finally decided to leave them, aware that the three humans would not go down without a ferocious fight.

_Memo to self, Michael, Lad, _Johnson thought to himself while wiping his forehead. _The next time you plan on visiting the Fentons, do be certain that there will be no ghost hunting involved. _He chuckled at himself. _Whoever thought that supporting a hybrid student would be so exhilarating, never mind exhausting? _

A sound from above caught his attention. Johnson looked up to the purple sky when he noticed a glint of white. He gasped and pointed. "Here comes the cavalry," he said, catching Maddie and Jack's attention.

Danny, followed by Tucker's SUV, glided over the city and headed downwards towards them. Once near to the ground, the ghost morphed his spectral tail back into legs and landed silently. Tucker landed the SUV next to the RV. There, it transformed back to normal.

"Whoa, where did you get a ride like _that?"_ Jack said in awe as Tucker and the others emerged from the vehicle.

"Tucker made it," Jazz said urgently, as they rushed over. "But we'll worry about that later, Dad." She looked at Danny. "What's the plan?"

Danny looked at her and then stared down at his body as it faded out and back into view again. "Let me call my other half over before I totally disappear and then I'll tell you," he said, closing his eyes.

Maddie stared at him worriedly. "Why is he fading?" she asked.

"Sunup is coming," Tucker replied. "He's running out of time."

Danny remained silent a while longer before a strike of white light flew through the air and was absorbed by his body, which became solid again. Then, he raised his head and opened his eyes. "Okay, Shade's on his way here," he said. He looked at Jazz. "Here's the plan; you guys stay here while I take care of this myself. It's time that I use Ultimate Control."

"No!" Maddie exclaimed, reaching for him and grabbing her son's arm. "You are _not _going to use that power again, Danny!"

"Mom, not that I'm not touched by your concern," Danny began, frowning softly while causing his arm to go intangible and phase through his mother's grasp, "But I've got no other choice. This is the only way to properly destroy him."

"But you'll fade away like last time!" Jack added in fear.

"I am _not _going to lose you again, Daniel Fenton!" Maddie repeated.

Danny pulled his arm away when his mother grabbed it again. "Mom, I _have _to do this!" he said. "I won't be able to come back at _all_ if I don't get him off of my case for good." He looked at her pitifully. "And for the record, I'm not Danny _Fenton_ right now; I'm just Danny _Phantom." _

He looked at Tucker and Sam. "You two _need_ to stay here," he said sternly. "I _need_ you two here. Once this is through, I'll have an important job for you to do, so don't come chasing after me, got it?"

"But what if you need backup?" Tucker asked worriedly.

"What if you don't come back?" Sam added.

Danny's frown dissipated as he stared at them in silence. He walked up to them both, looked them in the eye and grinned before reaching down and grabbing their hands in his. "I already promised you that I'd come back," he said softly. "And I don't intend to break that promise, Sam. Not for you, not for Tucker, not for Jazz or my parents…"

He looked at Andy, who was standing near his mother. The boy stared up at him with fear in his eyes.

Danny looked at him for a moment before looking at Sam and Tucker again. "… Not to mention I, uh… have a few questions to ask," he added softly. "… Make that a few _dozen." _

Sam and Tucker looked at each other before staring at him again. "Be careful, Danny," Sam said softly.

Danny nodded in reply before taking his hands away from theirs and stepping away. "Guard the Ghost Portal in case any more ghosts decided to come after it," he said. "None probably will, but just do it in case."

A loud roar over the city caused everyone to look upwards. Now that the sky was much lighter than it had been several hours ago, it was easy to see the black dragon flying towards the park.

Danny could hear the people in the nearby neighbourhood cry out in fear. He could see several of them already in the nearby streets.

He took a deep breath and exhaled. "Now or never, Danny," he said to himself. He walked away from the others before coming to a stop and raising his head. "Cover your eyes, guys," he said while closing his. "It's about to get incredibly bright."

A breeze began to blown around him, making his hair fly in different directions. As he held out his arms, the white glow that normally appeared around his body when in ghost form began to grow brighter and brighter.

Sam tucked some of the hair she caught behind her ears and Tucker held onto his beret. Andy grabbed onto Sam's leg. "What power is he usin', Mommy?" the five-year-old asked. "I don't know this one."

Sam looked at Tucker. Tucker, after a moment, grinned in reply and looked at Danny again. "The most powerful ability a ghost could have, Andy," he said. "One that can destroy the world. But with the right amount of love, you can get a miracle out of it."

The air seemed to be sucked inwards towards Danny for a few seconds until everything fell incredibly silent for a split second or two.

Danny opened his eyes, revealing that they had filled with bright white light. Then he looked up, crouched down low and leaped into the air, blasting off like a rocket, as a giant gust of air blew back outwards, nearly knocking the vehicles onto their sides.

"Bless my soul," Johnson said in amazement as he watched the ghost shoot up like a flying star. "No _wonder_ he's such a good astronaut."


	29. Chapter 28

Danny flew up several thousand feet into the air and only came to a stop when he knew that he was at a safe distance from Amity Park. High in the clouds, now glowing weakly in the rays of the ever rising sun, the ghost floated silently, taking in the beauty for only a few seconds. He looked down over the city, still clearly able to hear their shouts of fear, and scanned the area for his enemy.

A black glint caught his attention. He smiled cleverly. _"There you are_," he said softly.

The black ghost grew larger and larger, faster and faster. Once near enough, the dragon opened its mouth and roared.

Danny narrowed his eyes before closing them completely, only seconds before the giant jaws slammed down over him like a trap. _SNAP! _

Shade smiled, proud of himself for his easy catch; but he was suddenly taken off guard; his stomach began to grow hotter and hotter with every passing second until the pain was nearly unbearable. He shouted painfully, only seconds before his body exploded into oblivion thanks to a shock wave, which was accompanied by white light.

Danny had his arms spread out, white light emanating from his body. After a moment, he let his arms drop slowly and opened his eyes.

All the black smoke-like particles joined back together and formed Shade once again, this time the same height as Danny. The evil ghost groaned painfully and clutched his stomach while glaring furiously at his rival. _"Did you honestly think that_ that _move would destroy me?" _he hissed.

Danny frowned. _"No_," he replied. With a clever grin, he added, _"Just weaken you." _

Shade hissed and bared his teeth. _"You are a fool to be fighting against me at this hour_," he said. _"You will lose your spirit!" _

_"Not yet." _

_"You are too proud, Danny Phantom. You're powers are no match against mine!" _

Shade threw his arm back and blasted as much ectoplasmic energy as he could. Danny held up a hand before him, and only inches from impacting with him, the purple ray froze.

Shade gasped softly in shock.

Danny stared at the ray before glaring at Shade. He pointed at the black ghost. _"Return_," he commanded.

Immediately, the ghost ray made a sharp u-turn and headed straight back for its thrower. Shade gasped in horror and cried out in pain as he was hit and thrown back by his own attack.

Danny got into ready stance. _"Leave Amity Park and my family alone_," he said. _"And I won't kill you." _

Shade hissed back and made his hands glow purple. _"Do you honestly believe that I will do what you will?_" he hissed. _"We Shadow Ghosts are immune to commands, Danny Phantom! You will_ not _defeat me as easily as you did the Ghost Keeper_!" He yelled angrily and charged for Danny, ready to swing his fist into him.

Danny bared his teeth and crouched low before flying upwards as quickly as he could and evading the attack. Shade came to a halt after swinging at nothing and glared up at his opponent. _"You run from battle?_" he taunted. _"You are not a fool; you are a_ coward!"

_"Is that right_?" Danny replied with a grin. He pulled his arm back and formed a fist. It began to glow with white ectoplasmic energy. _"Then, if I am a coward, why am I not afraid to do_ this?"

He charged down towards Shade at such incredible speed that the black ghost could not evade the attack. Danny swung his fist into the Shadow Ghost's body and ripped right through it, causing the ghost to explode again.

Danny slowed to a stop and looked upwards. Shade reshaped himself and groaned painfully before glaring at Danny in anger. _"I will_ not _go down so easily!_" he yelled.

Danny held out his fists. _"Good_," he replied. _"Because then, it wouldn't be much of a challenge, would it?" _

Shade yelled angrily and charged for him again, this time throwing several attacks at Danny. Danny evaded several of them, teleported a few times and even caught a few attacks and threw them back at Shade. Shade was hit by one but managed to dodge the others before continuing on his way to Danny.

Danny was hit only a few times by the ghost's attacks, but because of the training he had had in the Ghost Zone, he was able to ignore the pain and keep fighting.

"_I will send you back to the abyss of the Ghost Zone if it's the last thing I do!" _Shade yelled furiously.

The white ghost narrowed his eyes. "_I just got back from that Zone," _Danny growled as Shade continued to attack him. "_I am not about to lose the only chance I've got to spend the rest of my life with my family and marry the woman I was forced to leave behind. Not by a LONG SHOT!" _

Shade roared, seeming to stir the world around them. He charged once more and got ready to throw his fist out again.

Danny straightened out and held up his hand. _"Stop_," he commanded incredibly calmly.

Shade gasped in shock and came to a complete stop, only inches from Danny's hand. Danny glared back at him, pulled his arm back and then threw his fist into Shade's face, sending the ghost flying out of control while shouting in pain.

The white-haired ghost brought his arm down and then looked to the east. He could see the sky begin to turn orange.

_I'm running out of time_, he thought. _I need to finish this now. _

Shade recovered from his blow and grew several feet taller. He glared angrily at Danny as he transformed into a dragon again. _"I will_ not _be defeated by a hybrid_," he hissed. _"Give me the final gem and I will spare their lives!" _

_"Don't_ bet _on it, Shade_," Danny growled back. _"I will_ never _give that gem_, or _myself, up to you, no matter how honest your words sound. I came through that Ghost Portal, and I intend to stay here for good!" _

Shade roared furiously. _"Then if I shall meet my doom here, so shall YOU!" _

He charged for Danny while blowing green flames of fire. Danny held up a hand to shield his body from the flames. Shade took the opportunity to drag him downwards with him. While engaged in a violent battle, white light against black shadow, they plummeted downwards, towards the park, ready to end the battle once and for all.


	30. Chapter 29

People in the city had already rounded in the streets near the park, though Maddie and Jack had forbidden them to come any further. The police put barricades to keep the citizens safe in case anything worse happened. Everyone stared up at the battle that took place, thousands of feet in the air, wondering who would come out the victor.

Tucker and the others looked up as well. He turned to the east and then looked at his watch. "Twenty minutes," he said worriedly. "Danny's only got twenty minutes left until Sunrise, Sam."

Sam had an arm around her son, who was still holding her leg tightly. "He'll make it, Tucker," she said. "He promised he'd make it."

Tucker looked at her in silence before staring up at the sky again.

Suddenly, there was a giant flash of light, and the next thing anyone knew was that something incredibly large and black, like a big cloud of black smoke, was careening towards the ground. As it did, it seemed to be battling something small, white, yet unbelievably bright; almost like a black storm cloud trying to fight back the rays of the sun.

People shouted in fright and pointed upwards. Tucker placed an arm around Sam while she held her son tightly.

The two ghosts twisted madly and shot ectoplasmic rays at each other as they fell. People covered their heads and held down their hair as the wind began to rise. They shouted in fright and squatted quickly.

Tucker ducked down over Sam and Andy as the five-year-old screamed in fright, just as the two ghosts flew over them, only feet from shaving their heads. They sailed on a few ways before finally colliding with the ground. There was a violent tremble that stretched across the entire park and a bit of the city, causing trees to rattle and lose a few loose leaves, and garbage cans to fall over with loud crashes. Damaged buildings groaned and loose debris fell from their crumbling structures.

A bright white light exploded, raising dust and dirt from the ground and covering everything from view.

_KAVLAM!_

People cried in bewilderment and then fell silent. Birds nested in the nearby trees squawked and took for the sky in panic. The Fentons, Tucker, Sam and Andy only looked up once everything had become still.

Rising dust and dirt covered everything from view. No one could make heads or tail of anything.

Tucker slowly got back to his feet, as did Sam. "Did he win?" Andy asked. "Did Daddy beat him?"

"Is he alive?" Jazz asked worriedly, running towards the dust a few steps.

No one answered their questions, or the question that haunted everyone else's mind in the city; had their hero emerged victorious?

They waited several desperate seconds before finally a dark shadow began to emerge from the dust. People in the streets whispered to one another, some fearing that all hope was lost.

"Come on, Danny," Tucker whispered. "Please be okay."

Andy hugged Sam's leg tightly, trying desperately not to fear the worst.

The shadow continued to walk forth until finally, the victor walked into view:

Danny Phantom shook some sense into his head while waving his arm about before him, trying to clear the air. He coughed a few times before finally opening his eyes.

No sooner had everyone recognized him did they cheer for joy. Tucker, Sam, Andy and Jazz cried out happily and jumped into the air while the streets behind them filled with claps and whistles.

"Danny, you DID IT!" Jazz squealed, running to him.

Danny looked up at her and smiled, only seconds before his sister leaped into his arms. He stumbled backwards a few steps until Sam leaped on top of his as well. Tucker jumped in third, until Danny fell backwards with a laugh to the ground with everyone.

"You won, Danny, you _won_!" Tucker laughed, throwing his arms around his best friend.

Danny laughed in reply and patted Tucker on the back. "Good guys _always_ win, Tuck!" he said. "I thought you knew that!"

They remained on the ground for a few more seconds before Danny finally rose to his feet. The other's followed his action.

"How did you gain control of that power, Danny?" Jazz asked as her brother dusted himself off.

"I don't think I totally _do_ have control over it," Danny replied, looking at her. "The only reason it _looks_ like I do is because I'm still in ghost form. I got the chance to practice it enough while I was in the Ghost Zone so that, when I _do_ use it in the future, I'll only revert back to human form, instead of losing my body all over again." He looked at Tucker and Sam. "Which reminds me," he said softly. He turned and walked towards the Ghost Portal.

Tucker, Sam, Jazz, Andy, Maddie, Jack and Johnson followed him, silently wondering what he was doing.

Danny came to a stop, just outside the portal, and turned to look at his best friends. "How much time left, Tucker?" he asked.

Tucker looked at his watch. "About fifteen minutes," he replied. "Give or take, I guess. You'd better transform back now."

But Danny only shook his head.

Tucker was immediately overcome by deep concern because of this. He shared a worried look with Sam and stared at his best friend again. "But Danny, it's all over now," he said. "You won, you can change back."

"Not yet, Tucker," Danny replied. "I'm still a ghost. I don't _have_ my physical body yet."

"But we _saw_ you transform," Sam noted. "We saw you transform from human to ghost when you first got here near midnight."

"That was just a mirage, Sam," Danny explained gently. "You guys only saw what you wanted, or _needed_, to see."

"A… a mirage?"

"It's another side effect of coming in contact, or near range, of the Spirit Gems. To protect me."

Sam and Tucker looked at each other once more before looking at the ghost again.

Danny waited a moment in silence before he held out his hand and grabbed Sam's. "Can you feel me yet?" he asked softly.

Sam looked down at Danny's hand and rubbed it gently. She shook her head. "No," she whispered, looking at him once more.

"That's because I don't have a physical body for you to feel yet," Danny replied, pulling his hand away. He looked at Tucker. "It's still in the Ghost Zone."

"Then go get it," Tucker insisted. "You've got the data the Spirit Gems transferred to you; now you can go track it down and come back home."

But again, Danny shook his head. "I can't do that, Tucker," he whispered.

"I… I don't understand…"

Danny smiled at him. "I know where my body is now, yes," he replied. "But I can't take it back…" He reached out and grabbed Tucker's hand. "Not without your help," he added in a whisper.

He held out his other hand and opened it, placing something down in Tucker's palm. Tucker could not distinguish the shape of the item, but when Danny pulled his hand away, he saw it and gasped in shock.

It was a beautiful white gem, shaped like a diamond star. It glowed dimly with ectoplasmic light, giving it the illusion of containing tiny, glowing snowflakes.

"It's the fourth _Spirit Gem_," Tucker announced as Sam stared at it in awe. The mayor waited a moment before looking up at Danny in shock. "You had it the _whole_ time, didn't you?"

"I figured that I should keep one for safety, just in case it happened to be more important than what I thought it could be," Danny replied. He grinned amusingly. "Turns out that it was better that way."

Johnson snapped his fingers, catching everyone's attention. "Of _course_!" he exclaimed. "Turn the game of the hunter against him by hiding the final treasure with the prey!" He looked at Danny and smiled. "By concealing the Spirit Gem, you led Shade on an endless chase for it! The only possible way for him to retrieve it would be if you were to disappear!"

Just as he said those words, Danny's body went transparent again. Sam gasped softly and covered her mouth.

Danny looked at himself before looking at Tucker again. "Speaking of which," he said, with a hint of concern. "This is what I need you and Sam to do, Tucker; you need to take the Spirit Gem into the Ghost Zone and join my ghost half with my human half."

Tucker looked at him worriedly. "Why can't you do it?" he asked.

"Because I can't break the last defence mechanism if _I'm_ the one the stones are trying to protect," Danny explained, his voice becoming urgent. "I need a physical _body_ to do that, but that's what the Spirit Gems are protecting." He closed Tucker's fingers around the jewel and pushed the man's hand towards his chest. "I need _you_ to open it for me. Use the Fenton Thermos to carry my ghost half to the place my body's being kept, and once you've unlocked the last defence, open the thermos and join the two together."

Andy, who had taken the opportunity to run to the RV and grab an empty thermos while Danny was explaining things to his uncle and mother, tugged on Tucker's sleeve and handed him the object. For one reason or another, Andy had guessed that the hero would need the thermos, so before he had even mentioned it, the five-year-old went to grab one.

Tucker turned and grabbed the thermos when the boy held it up to him. He stared at it in silence before looking at Danny with concern in his eyes. "I can't stuff you in this thing, Danny," he said worriedly.

"It won't hurt me," Danny replied. "I've done it before. It'll just be cramped."

"… I dunno, Danny…"

Danny placed his hands on the thermos and looked at Tucker. "You _need_ to do this for me, Tucker," he said quietly yet urgently. "I can't do this on my own. I need _your_ help to do this." He smiled weakly. "When I wake up as Danny Fenton, I want my best friends to be the two first people I see again. It would mean the _world_ to me if you and Sam did this… _Please_, Tucker."

Tucker stared at him in silence before looking down at the thermos again. For a moment, he thought about stuffing his friend into a soup can. It did not sound incredibly comfortable.

He sighed and looked at Sam. Sam, though clearly afraid of entering the Ghost Zone again, grinned as bravely as she could to show her support.

Tucker took a deep breath and looked at Danny. He nodded weakly. "Okay," he said softly. "Okay, Danny."

Danny's eyes were immediately cleared of any fear and he gently pulled his hands away from the thermos. Tucker tucked the Spirit Gem into his pocket and pulled the cap of the thermos off. He pointed it at Danny. "See you in a while?" he asked.

Danny grinned back as he continued to fade in and out of view. "You got it," he said softly.

Tucker pressed a button on the side of the thermos. It projected a blue ray of light, which quickly spread over Danny's entire body.

Danny took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He seemed to turn intangible, but only seconds afterwards, he was sucked into the thermos.

Tucker placed the lid over the cylinder and then looked at Sam. "The Spirit Gems probably have the portal in the area we need to go," he said. He pulled out the white gem and looked at it. "The closer we get to Danny, the more this baby will shine."

Sam grabbed his hand in hers and smiled boldly. "Then let's go get him," she said.


	31. Chapter 30

They stepped through the portal together, hand-in-hand, eyes shut tight.

Sam dared to open hers first and looked around. Shades of green filled the space around them. A trail of dark purple and grey stones lay before them, leading into the Ghost Zone.

"Is it safe to open my eyes?" Tucker muttered.

Sam looked at him and let his hand go. "Yep," she replied. "We're inside the Ghost Zone."

Tucker opened his eyes and stared around in awe. "Wow," he said, his voice echoing a little. "It seems unreal. The last time _I_ was in here, I was eighteen."

"Danny _clearly_ likes me better then," Sam said royally, taking a step forward. "_I_ went in with him five _years_ ago."

Tucker rolled his eyes. "Yeah; because he probably couldn't bear to lose _sight_ of you," he replied. "I just prefer to… stay with… Uh…" The black man made a grimace and waved an arm through the air. "Bah, forget it," he groaned, making Sam laugh. "I'll just shut up before I say something that will only bounce back at me."

Sam patted his back in friendly consolation before grabbing Tucker's wrist and pulling him over the stones that lay before them. "Come on! Hold out that rock and light the way, Tucker!"

"Whoa! Slow down, Sam; I'm gonna lose the thermos!"

They hopped onto one stone after another, traveling lower and lower into the zone. Sometimes, they found themselves leaping over large spaces. Tucker nearly lost his footing once, and Sam almost missed a landing.

But falling to their deaths was not the fear that kept them awake at that moment; in reality, they were not even _thinking_ about the possibility; they had been in the Ghost Zone so many times in the past, they were only too acquainted with how everything worked. What they were _truly_ afraid of at that moment was not being able to find Danny's body.

The gem grew hotter and hotter in Tucker's hand. He switched hands to carry it. "I hope we're getting closer," he said. "If this thing gets any hotter, it'll burn a hole right through my palm!"

"Oh well, I guess," Sam replied. "I guess then you'll have to find another hobby than upgrading your PDA and building ghost weapons."

Tucker stopped in his tracks and stared at Sam as she continued to leap from one stone to the next. In horror, the mayor looked down at his hand, pondering the words she had just said to him. But only a split second later, just as Sam was heard laughing hysterically ahead of him, Tucker glared furiously in her direction and leaped after her. "If Danny wasn't in love with you, I _swear_ I'd kick you in the shin, Samantha Manson!" he snapped angrily, having finally understood that all Sam was doing was making him fret over nothing.

They finally came to a piece of rock land, like a floating isle. Thin mist covered the ground around them.

Sam leaped down the last stone and looked around. "Which way now, Tucker?" she wondered.

Tucker looked at the stone, pointed it in different directions, and then began walking forward. "This way," he said.

They entered the mist cautiously, stirring it with their feet every now and then if they lost sight of the ground. Tucker continued further into the fog, now worried he would not be able to spot his best friend.

The Spirit Gem suddenly began to hum and glow brightly. Tucker gasped and stared at it.

Sam stopped beside him. "What should we do?" she wondered.

Tucker looked at her and then grinned. "Remember how the stones seemed magnetized to the Ghost Portal?" he recalled. He squatted down over the ground and held up the stone. "Maybe in the Ghost Zone, they're magnetized to something _else_."

He set it down on the ground and got to his feet again. They waited patiently.

The gem began to vibrate madly and glow brightly, and within mere seconds, it had sped off over the rough terrain.

"Follow it!" Tucker said as he and Sam dashed after it.

The gem led them on a chase through the mist, luckily dodging anywhere a gap in the ground would be. It rattled and tumbled over the uneven ground, sometimes rolling on its side like a wheel. Its light was bright enough for anyone to notice it through the fog.

Tucker and Sam did their best at giving it chase, all the while dodging gaps in the ground and stumbling over the bumpy terrain.

Within mere minutes, the gem came to a stop, running into the side of a large crystal container of some kind.

Tucker and Sam slowed to a stop and walked over to the crystal box. "What is this?" Sam wondered as they knelt down over it. They began to wipe the dust off of the top. "Is it like some kind of huge treasure box for ghosts?"

"A treasure box shaped like a _coffin_?" Tucker said sceptically. "_I_ don't think so. I don't even think _ghosts_ are that weird."

"Well, if it doesn't contain treasure, then what _does_ it contain?"

They finished cleaning the top of the box, which turned out to be smooth and transparent. They peered inside and gasped. "It's _Danny_!" they exclaimed.

Tucker cleared some more dust off and examined the body inside. Sure enough, it was the very same man who had been his best friend since kindergarten. Danny was dressed in the clothes his sister had given him the summer he was last seen: his baggy pants, red sneakers and white t-shirt with the D that symbolized Danny Phantom on the front. His arms were placed at his sides, and his face seemed peaceful, as though he was sleeping very soundly.

"Five years," Tucker whispered as tears filled his eyes. "It took us five _years_ to see him again, and here he is, Sam; _inches_ from our faces!"

Sam was busy looking for a way to open it. "How do you open this?" she said desperately. "We need to get him out, Tucker!"

Tucker tried helping her pry the cover open, but then stopped. "Wait a minute," he said. "What if the last defence mechanism was sealing this box shut so that _no one_ could open it? It's obviously made of a type of ectoranium-diamond, judging by its smoothness and glow, which means it's anti-ghost, unbreakable and untouchable to any spirit, lest they had a way to open it."

"Then, how do we unlock it?"

Tucker rubbed his chin and then stared down at the glowing gem by the base of the coffin. He bent down and grabbed it, and began searching for an area on the box where he could insert it. "We've got the key," he said. "Now where's the lock?"

Sam searched the cover of the coffin again until she found a small marking embedded in the corner of the transparent cover. It was shaped like a star.

"Tucker, it's right here!" she said, pointing at it.

Tucker rushed over and inserted the gem into its rightful place before he and Sam rose to their feet and waited patiently.

The crystal box glowed dimly for a moment before making a soft _hissing_ noise. Then, the cover rose an inch and disintegrated into thin air.

Tucker reached into the coffin and picked Danny up by his shoulders. "Come on, Sam; grab his legs and lend me a hand!" he said.

Sam ran to Danny's feet and picked them up. Carefully, they dragged the limp body out of the coffin and set it down on the ground.

Tucker knelt down and held Danny's upper body in his lap. Sam knelt down across from him and waited nervously. She played with her fingers and the ring she still had around one of them.

Tucker pulled out the thermos and popped off the cap. "Here goes," he said. He pointed the thermos downward and placed it against Danny's chest. Then, he pressed the button.

The thermos glowed blue for a moment and hummed before ejecting a bright light. The light penetrated Danny's body, giving it a jolt and causing it to glow dimly for a few seconds. Then, everything fell silent again.

They waited…

_Any minute now,_ Tucker thought…

… And waited…

_… This five-year nightmare will be all over…_

… And _waited. _

…But nothing happened.

Sam shook her head. "It's not working," she said, as tears filled her eyes. "Tucker, why isn't it working?"

"I don't understand," Tucker replied worriedly. "Danny _said_ that it would work. Why isn't he waking up?" He gently shook the unstirred man, lying in his lap. "Danny, wake up… Come on, Danny; we did what you told us to do, now get up… Get up!"

He paused a minute while tears blurred his sight. Never before had Tucker felt this desperate. Not even his technology frenzies—the way he felt when a new PDA came in stores and he just _had_ to have it—could match up to the despair and even panic that his heart was now beginning to feel. He stuck his fingers behind his glasses and rubbed his eyes to brush away the tears. "_Please_, Danny," he squeaked. "_Just get up." _

"Danny, _please_," Sam begged, stroking Danny's head. "Wake up, _please_." After a moment, she paused as well and could no longer hold back the pain she had been feeling for the past five years. She placed both of her hands against her mouth and held back a cry.

Tucker shook his head. "Danny," he whispered sadly. "Danny, wake up, man. Why won't you wake up?" He shook Danny once more before gently holding his best friend's head up. "Danny," he squeaked.

Silence followed as they struggled not to break. Tucker slipped a hand behind his glasses rubbed the tears out of his eyes over and over again, even though more continued to come. Sam buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook as she began to cry very quietly, now completely sure that there was no way she could embarrass herself in such a desolated area of the Ghost Zone.

Neither of them wanted to remain there any longer, yet neither of them wanted to leave.

_Not like this,_ Sam thought. _Not without—!_

Suddenly, just when they were both thinking of giving up, Danny opened his mouth and gasped loudly for air, taking in as much as he could in his lungs. Tucker nearly jumped in fright as Sam recoiled and uncovered her face, gasping in shock.

The black-haired man breathed heavily and loudly for a few moments, almost as though he was trying to remember what it was like to breathe in air. His chest rose slowly and fell quickly with every breath he took.

"Danny!" Sam said with joy as tears ran down her cheeks.

Danny opened his eyes, and this time he looked up at Sam with the familiar blue eyes she and Tucker had grown up knowing. He smiled weakly while continuing to pant. "Told you it would work," he croaked.

Tucker laughed loudly as he and Sam threw their arms around their best friend, swearing never to let him go again—until Danny suggested heading back to the others.


	32. Chapter 31Epilogue

Jazz, her parents, Johnson and Andy waited nervously for Sam and Tucker to return. Most citizens had figured the best was through, and so returned to their homes for a few more hours of rest if not to start a new day. Only a handful of people remained, walking about while speaking of the attack and the return of their hero. Police officers came together, discussing matters about the attack and the museum's mysterious break-in.

Jazz hugged her waist tightly, almost as though she was getting cold and wanted to keep warm; it had already been fifteen minutes; what if they had not been able to find Danny's body?

"Come _on_, where _are_ you kids?" Jack whispered insistently, as Maddie placed her hands together.

The portal remained as it was—silent and unchanging—until finally, out stepped Sam and Tucker, smiling brightly. Between them, one arm around their shoulders for support, was Danny, black-haired, blue-eyed and all.

Exactly how he had left them five years earlier.

"DANNY!" Maddie, Jack and Jazz cried out happily, running to him.

Sam and Tucker let Danny go to allow him to take a few weak steps forward. Danny struggled with the first few steps, having not used his legs for the past five years, but stood up straight and smiled happily as his parents and his sister threw their arms around him and embraced him.

"He's finally back, every human piece of him!" Jack exclaimed, rubbing his son's head.

"And I am _never_ letting you go, ever again!" Maddie added, showering Danny with kisses. "My little baby's come home!"

Danny groaned as he struggled to breathe but laughed upon seeing his family so happy. "I told you I'd come back, Mom," he said. "You didn't doubt me, did you?"

"You're five years past your curfew, young man!" Jack said, pretending to sound stern.

"I'm thirty years _old_, Dad! I don't _have_ a curfew!"

Jazz placed her arms around Danny's neck, and he placed his around her waist. "I'm so glad you're finally back, Little Brother," she said, kissing his cheek. "You don't know how off life's been without you in it."

"Considering you guys will no doubt tell me, you should probably let me _breathe_ in order to live to _hear_ the tale!" Danny chuckled, finally breaking free of his family. He looked down at his feet and jogged in place for a moment. "Five years of sleeping in a box is catching up to me. If you guys hope on telling me anything, you'll have to do it while I eat, jog and swim."

"How about while you _work?" _

Danny stopped jogging and turned to face the one who spoke to him. Johnson walked up to him, grinning proudly and held out his hand. "Far too long since we last spoke, wouldn't you agree?" the scientist asked.

"Definitely," Danny replied, shaking the man's hand. "I'm guessing you told everyone how we met?"

"In a word, yes."

"It may sound very odd, Sir, but I'm _extremely_ glad to see you again," Danny added with a smile. "After all these years, not sharing with you information and stories, it's a real treat to have you in the smack-dab middle of an adventure."

Johnson chuckled. "I did not expect it, but you know me; always interested in the unknown."

"I'm surprised you even came out here to lend everyone a hand."

"Initially, I was not going to, but when I heard that it could bring you back, I wanted to be the first at NASA to welcome you home…" Johnson winked. "By the way, it's very good to see you smile again, Boy."

Danny grinned in reply.

Johnson let his hand go and placed it behind his back again. "Before I forget, Danny; Lieutenant Jones—you remember him, right? Dr. Jones has instructed me to send you a message the moment you returned home."

"A message?" Danny echoed in confusion. "What kind of message would he have for me after all this time?"

"An important one," Johnson replied. "In fact, he hopes that you will return to work within the next month, if not sooner. And knowing the Lieutenant, he'll probably expect you to be there _sooner _."

Danny recoiled in surprise, as did the rest of his family. "Return to _work?_" he echoed.

"Indeed."

"But Dr. Johnson, I've been absent for _five years_! I've missed years of experience and hours of training! He doesn't actually _expect_ me to come back to NASA and restart, does he?"

"Return, yes," Johnson announced. "Restart… out of the question."

When all Danny did was look at him in confusion, the scientist chuckled and adjusted his glasses. "Daniel, the autumn after you disappeared, we were considering your suggestion for a special mission crew in outer space," he explained. "In fact, the idea sounded so interesting and fantastic… that the Lieutenant chose _you_ to be the very first—and youngest, might I add—_Captain_ of NASA's Special Missions."

Danny gaped in disbelief while Tucker laughed in the background.

"He always did like the way you worked, Danny."

"C-c-c-captain?" Danny repeated in complete mystification. Sam, Jazz and Maddie began to laugh along with Tucker.

"Yes. You have a uniform, a suit and your own office," Johnson continued. His eyes twinkled. "You even have your own _space shuttle." _

"I have a _ship?_" Danny exclaimed.

"NASA Space Shuttle Number B-614, to be exact. It's been constructed to your designs."

Danny was dumbfounded. He passed a hand over his face and placed it over his mouth.

"The spot was honoured to be yours, Daniel. Lieutenant Jones did not want to give it to anyone else. We've even postponed the missions until you returned. He had high hopes that you would."

Danny looked up at him, his eyes still wide with shock.

Johnson smiled at him. "So, what will it be, Danny?" he asked. "Will you show up for work in thirty days, or will you remain here in your beloved Amity Park?"

"Take it, Kiddo!" Jack whispered while giving the thumbs up.

Danny looked at his family before uncovering his mouth and clearing his throat. "Um…" he said shakily. He looked up at Johnson and smiled. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, Sir," he finished.

Johnson nodded nobly and straightened his back. "Then, as the Lieutenant would have it," he began. He raised his hand and placed it by his forehead as a salute. "Carry on."

Danny placed his legs together as straight as they could be, raised his head and saluted the man in return, with a serious face. "Sir!" he replied.

Johnson put his arm down and turned. "I must be heading back to NASA now," he announced to everyone. "I have a thesis to complete, and a new job to prepare for Danny. It's been quite a fun-filled day for me, although if I am to be included in another Fenton Ghost Hunt, I do wish that I remain on the sidelines. I am not as young as I used to be."

"Thank you for your help, Dr. Johnson," Maddie replied with a grin after nudging her husband in the gut—Jack had begun to giggle when Johnson made his last statement.

The scientist nodded in return. "I am happy to be of assistance in finding your son, Mrs. Fenton," he replied. He looked at Danny once more and grinned before walking off. "Until next time… _Dr _. Fenton."

Danny grinned brightly at those last words until Tucker cheered loudly and leaped onto his back. "I can't believe it!" he exclaimed. "You come home after five years and NASA _promotes _you to Captain! This is like a Star Trek movie or something!"

"You really _did _have too much time on your hands, Tucker," Danny chuckled before his best friend let him go. He turned around and faced him, spreading his arms out. "And what's this about _Mayor?_ I really can't believe that, dude! And Amity Park, turning into a _city?_ Boy, have you guys got one heckova _story _to tell me!" He began numbering down his fingers. "We'll start with what happened right after I had to leave; then you'll tell me about when you went back to college; and then what you guys have been doing for my _birthdays _—which reminds me; I'm starving." He looked at Tucker and rubbed his hands together while licking his lips. "You still gonna buy me that Nasty Burger?"

Tucker placed an arm around Danny's shoulders. "Dude, you've got a whole _month _or so to chillax!" he said. "By then, you'll have your sleep, have your showers, you'll hear our five-year-long story, _and _you'll have your nasty burger! For now, why don't you just sit back and enjoy being home? We've got all _forever_ to catch up on things!"

"Just as long as I'm back on the same page as you guys," Danny replied.

"Not to mention you must have some serious stories to tell _us _. Five years in the Ghost Zone? Dude, everyone here still thinks that you went missing! Even Dash and Paulina!" Tucker removed his arm from around his best friend and grinned. "But like I said, let's just relax for now. I'm just satisfied to have you finally back, Danny." He held out his fist. "Welcome home, Bro."

Danny smiled back and smacked his fist against Tucker's before they clasped hands together. "It's good to _be _home," he replied.

Tucker let his hand go and then stepped aside. Danny watched him do so, looked at the person who was standing nearest to him, and then walked towards her.

Sam smiled through tears and tried to wipe some away before Danny placed his arms around her. She hugged him back and pressed her cheek against his. "I'm so happy you're back, Danny," she whispered with a soft laugh. "These past five years just haven't been the same without you. I missed you _so _much."

"I missed you too, Sam," Danny whispered back, closing his eyes. "There wasn't one day that I didn't go without thinking of you. You were the last person I wanted to leave like that." He kissed her cheek and held her tighter. "Did you feel that?" he asked, whispering in her ear.

Sam smiled and stroked the back of his head after feeling Danny's breath warm her ear. "More than you know," she replied. After a moment, she added, "I hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and bought a house. And a car. _And _insurance."

Danny leaned closer to her ear. "As long as I don't need to live with my parents anymore, I'm good," he whispered, making her laugh.

"The basement is free for your stuff," Sam added after giggling. "You can organize it into a storage room for your NASA gear, and if you'd like, you can add a Ghost Portal. Tucker's already building you one."

Danny sighed softly and only pressed his cheek against hers again. "Let's forget about the Ghost Portal until I'm back from NASA," he said. "I don't intend to visit that place before then."

"Good enough for me."

Danny continued to hold her against him for a few more seconds before finally deciding to open his eyes; he heard someone approaching them from behind Sam. He looked down.

Andy walked up to them, hands behind his back, and a wide grin on his face. He swung his hips around gently while staring up at Danny with big blue eyes.

Danny stared at the child a little longer before finally opening his mouth. "Um, Sam," he said softly.

"Mm-hm?" Sam replied.

Danny did not take his eyes off of Andy. "That kid," he whispered. "… That little boy…" He waited a minute before continuing. "… That's my son, isn't it?"

Sam opened her eyes and looked at Tucker with a grin. Tucker winked back.

"Yeah," she replied, finally pulling herself away from Danny.

Danny looked at her in confusion. "How?" he asked.

Sam looked at the ground for a moment. "A month before you had to go into the Ghost Zone," she explained. "Remember that one night we spent together?" She looked at Danny. "I never got the chance to tell you that… that I became _pregnant." _

Danny raised his eyebrows a little before looking over Sam's shoulder at the boy standing behind her. He covered his mouth, blushed for a few seconds—which made his family and even Andy giggle—and then passed a hand through his hair while taking a deep breath.

"His name is Andrew," Sam added. "Andy Fenton."

"Fenton?" Danny echoed, looking at her again.

Sam shrugged with a grin. "He likes it," she said. "And… I guess just in the hopes…"

Danny stared at her in silence until Tucker spoke up. "Fenton has a better ring to it than Manson," he clarified.

Sam glared at him, reached over and punched Tucker's shoulder. Tucker yelped in pain while leaping in place and rubbed it gingerly, making everyone, including Danny, laugh. "Oh, come _on _, Sam, you _know _I'm just _kidding _!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Just making sure," Sam replied with a sly grin.

Danny looked away from them and looked at Andy again. The boy was still smiling at him.

The man waited a moment before walking around Sam and stepping towards the child.

Andy wiggled with excitement and giggled as Danny knelt down and came face-to-face-with him. He waited eagerly for the man to speak.

Danny stared at him in silence, studying his physical appearance, before finally grinning timidly. "Hello, Andy," he said.

Andy giggled. "You're my Daddy," he replied.

"Looks like it."

"I knew you would come back home. Mommy and Uncle Tucker always said so."

Danny looked over his shoulder at Sam and Tucker for a moment. When they both grinned in reply, he looked at Andy again. "Well," he said, "Here I am."

Andy continued to grin excitedly and nodded his head.

Danny waited a moment before speaking again. "You've got… you've got _ghost _powers, don't you?" he said softly while cracking another grin.

"Dr. Johnson says I gots them from you," Andy replied. "But I can only turn invisible and intangi… tangi…" Andy paused and frowned. "Intagi… in-tan-gi—!"

"Intangible," Danny finished for him, chuckling softly.

"Yeah. I can walk through things."

"Those can be really handy in tight situations."

"You're not… you're not _mad _at me for having ghost powers, are you?" Andy asked worriedly. "Because I never told Mommy until today, because I didn't want her to get scared."

Danny gave him a funny look. "Now, why would I be mad at you?" he asked. "I can't get mad at you yet; I just met you."

Andy giggled and looked at his feet for a minute before looking at Danny again. "But I'm not half ghost," he concluded. "Like you."

Danny sighed and shook his head. "No," he replied. "You're all human, or at least enough not to be detected by other ghosts." He smiled and gently poked the boy's nose. "Consider yourself a quarter ghost, if not slightly less. No thanks to the small gene you got from me."

Andy giggled and rubbed his nose before looking at his hero again. "What's a gene?"

"It's DNA. It's a little piece that a person gets from his parents. It's what makes him or her their kid." Danny grinned again. "And though I didn't get the picture the first time I saw you, having ghost powers automatically makes you my kid."

Andy smiled proudly before pulling his hands out from behind his back. He stared at their contents and then held them up so that Danny could see them.

It was the small figurines of Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton that Andy carried with him. The man stared at them in silence.

"Uncle Tucker gave 'em to me," Andy explained. "He says that they used to make 'em. A kid at school told me that they don't make 'em anymore, so they're worth a bunch of money."

Danny held up the little figurine of his human half and grinned amusingly. "Yep," he said. "They stopped making them the year I graduated." He looked at Andy again. "They're pretty rare, now. Especially this one. No one but us knows why they made one of Danny Fenton." He handed it back to the boy. "They must be your favourites."

Andy looked at the toys for a moment before shaking his head. "Not anymore," he replied.

Danny looked at him in confusion. "Why not?"

"Because I don't need rare toys to be my favourite anymore." Andy tucked them away into his pockets and grinned. "I gots the real thing, now."

Danny raised his eyebrows for a moment in surprise and then finally smiled warmly.

Andy walked up to him and placed his arms around Danny's neck, just as Danny placed his around the boy's waist. "I love you, Daddy," he whispered.

"I… I love you too, Andy… I really do."

Andy looked up at his mother when Danny whispered those words. When Sam smiled back and Tucker gave him the thumbs up, the five-year-old grinned in reply and held up his thumb as well.

The others looked on with smiles until hurrying footsteps caused them to look away. A police officer was running towards them, out of breath. "Mayor Foley! Mayor Foley, Sir!" he called out.

Danny let go of Andy and stood up again as the officer came to a stop before Tucker. "Sir, there was a break-in at the museum," he said urgently. "Last night, just before the ghost attack. The jewel you had on display, the blue one; it's gone! The robbers must have taken it!"

Tucker raised his eyebrows and looked from Jazz to Sam. All three shared startled looks, though Danny could tell that they were only faking it.

"What should we do?"

Tucker waited a moment and then waved an arm in the air. "Bah; let him get away," he said.

The officer frowned in confusion. "Sir?"

"It was a worthless rock, Officer; just something pretty that I decided to put on display!" Tucker continued, as Jazz choked on a laugh and covered her mouth. "Whoever got away with it was probably in desperate need of some funny money. Just take the display down and keep the rest of them up."

"But Mayor—!"

Tucker leaned towards the man and patted his head, making Sam laugh this time. "My good man, take a day off and just _chill _," he said. "It was just a stupid rock."

The police officer blinked several times quickly before straightening his hat and clearing his throat. "Um, yessir," he said, still slightly confused. He turned and walked off. "Uh, good day, Sir."

Tucker straightened out while Danny looked at him with an amused grin. "You're letting the guy _get away _?" Danny said, although he knew that it had been Tucker and the others who had broken into the museum.

Tucker shrugged. "I figured that if the guy who stole it was that good, he was probably a stylish, stealthy, _debonair _kind of guy," he said, pretending to push his hair back. "Someone who had to get credit for getting away with the job."

"Oh, _really _?" Danny said with a chuckle. "And just who _was _this robber in question?"

Tucker looked at him proudly, but to Danny's complete surprise, he pointed at Andy, making everyone laugh. "The little dude that looks like you," he said.

Danny frowned in confusion, making Sam laugh even more.

"Hey, like you said; invisibility and intangibility really come in handy in tight situations. Try stealing a rock inches from my _face _, for example."

Andy giggled hysterically and raised his arm, catching Danny's attention. "Going Ghost!" he exclaimed, making everyone laugh once more.

Tucker walked over to the Ghost Portal while sighing and pulled out the three Spirit Gems. "Well, considering they've led us to wherever we needed to go," he said, holding them up, "I don't think they're of any value to us anymore." He tossed them into the portal and slammed the close button on its side, resulting in the green spiral inside the ring to magically disappear. "If the ghosts want, they can have 'em," he said, dusting his hands off. "I've got what I want, so I'm good."

Danny took the opportunity to turn back to face Sam. While Andy cheered and ran over to his uncle, Danny placed his arms around his girlfriend and placed his forehead against hers. "So," he said with a grin as Sam stared up at him, "Considering we've already _unofficially_ tied the knot with Junior—" Sam giggled softly at this "—What would you say if I asked you to marry me?"

Sam leaned her head back for a moment and placed a finger at her mouth as if thinking deeply about something. "Hm; I don't know," she said sarcastically. She placed her arms around Danny's neck and leaned closer to him. "Let me think about it while I kiss you."

* * *

Although no one knew just how close Amity Park came to losing their hero for good, the Fentons did, and they were not willing to ever come that close again. While Tucker, Jazz and Andy chased each other in circles while shouting for joy, cheering on having a complete family again, and while Madeleine and Jack Fenton saddled up the RV, the infamous ghost hero himself was satisfied with his own happy ending: after half a decade in a zone with no end, standing still with the love of his life while the world continued to move forward was the perfect way to end another adventure.

None of the citizens in Amity Park ever found out why Danny Phantom had refused to show himself in public for the past five years, and no one found out why he had suddenly decided to return. Which made Dr. Daniel Fenton, NASA astronaut and newly named Captain, an instant hit in Amity Park. With his return came a series of theories, all from being kidnapped and taken hostage somewhere underground to falling in a river and being washed out to sea.

Reporters were curious. Being the closest known companion to the ghost hero, other than Jack and Maddie Fenton's son, Mayor Foley was asked several questions on this matter. Luckily, though, Tucker had learned several years ago to not open his mouth unless needed to; Danny's secret was and always would remain a secret, even though people were curious about their sudden return. The city continued to remain oblivious to the fact that Fenton and Phantom were one and the same, much to the Phantom Crew's relief.

And after five years without a father, Andy finally got his wish. Danny married Sam within two weeks, left on a ghost hunting honeymoon, and moved in with them before starting his job at NASA a week after that. Andy's perfect family was finally complete, and before the month was up, at that.

On that note, this story comes to an end; but rest assured that this is _just _the beginning.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: So there we are! the second half of the Introduction story to my DP fanfic series! Hope you all liked it! I like writing things for children or young teenagers, so if it sounded a little childish, you've got the reason now.^^_

_Andy will continue to be one of the main characters, though the spotlight is still reserved for Danny, considering he's the protagonist. You will also meet several new characters, such as Danny's boss, his co-pilot, and Tucker's future girlfriend. There will also be recurring characters from the TV show, including Dani (yes, yes, I know most of you were hoping to see her). If you want a list of some of the characters you will see most often, go to this webpage ( /d2uuo47 ) or go to my deviantart page and check my gallery. It'll be in the **Danny Phantom **folder, under the title **DP Character Chart.**_

_The next installation to the **Danny Phantom: Continuing Adventures **__will be **Double Trouble, **as I have mentionned before. I will be posting a few last one-shots between then, for your delight, as little introductions to the series. Getting you all warmed up!_

_Finally, thank you to all my loyal readers on deviantart AND fanfiction. Hope you will enjoy the coming one-shots, and be ready for the coming of **Double Trouble!**_


End file.
